Memorial Del Convento
by Jose Saramago

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Book Reviews of Memorial Del Convento

Book Review: Love and death in a Baroque lisbon Haunted by Inquisition
Summary: 5 Stars

I would like to question Mr Saramago in regard to his views on Cinema. He has alowed adaptations of this book for Theatre (November premiere in Portugal)and Opera (BLIMUNDA, premiered 1990 LA SCALLA - Milan). So why his persistent refusal to allow a Cinema adaptation? Is Cinema necessarily a minor art for him in comparison to Opera and Theatre? Has he heard of Welles? Preminger? Lang? Ford? Hawks? Casavetes? Truffaut? Visconti? Fellini? Pasolini? Tarkowski? And if you argue these are all dead, what about the active ones: Bergman? Goddard? Proyas? Konchalovski? Mikhalkhov? Cameron -- Picture Leo DiCaprio as Baltazar? :-) Sure Hollywood produces Godzilla and such, but that's not all there is to cinema.

Personally I believe directors like Mike Figgis (leaving las Vegas, One Night Stand)or Jean Paul Rapenneau (Cyrano de Bergerac, Horseman on the Roof) or even Bille August (Pelle the Conqueror, Les Miserables) would do a good work with this Novel. (In terms of Spectacle this would be Spielberg Material --I'm suspicious of him though after AMISTAD where among many other historical inacuracies the Portuguese spoke Spanish?? - although he partially redeemed himself with Priv. Ryan. Richard Zimler's THE LAST KHABALIST OF LISBON --Search AMAZON for this one-- would be a great Spielberg Film, too)

Not too long ago I saw Mr. Saramago in a talk show (Falatório)on Portuguese Pubcaster RTP2 admiting to host Clara Ferreira Alves that he never quite grasped why this novel had such a mammouth success while his other subsequent works, while very successfull, never quite measured to it.

Well, it feels very simple to me: First it's a spectacular and epic rendition of history and fantasy. And second, it's a breathtakingly beautiful love story. How much closer to public appeal can you get?

I ordered an out of print American Edition of this book from Amazon to offer a friend. It arrived the day Saramago won the Nobel. I think it was prophetic.

Summary of Memorial Del Convento

Literature & Fiction Books

• Subjects > Literature & Fiction