Ruth

Introduction from Dominik Byrne, from the Bristol Link with Beira Project.

The story of how football (soccer) superstar Eusébio, arrives in Lisbon from Mozambique to find himself involved in a sports rivalry older than the “Roman Right”. Mozambican director António Pinhão Botelho, brings this unlikely but true story to the screen. Eusebio was a promising footballer in Maputo, who became a legend when he was kidnapped and taken to Lisbon. Set in 1961, a tumultuous year for Portugal and it’s fascist regime against the background of unrest and conflict as the colonial war takes place, Ruth is the codename given to Eusebio by his kidnappers with some of the film is set in the Mafalala neighbourhood where he lived. An unfolding drama played out in the mood and political context of the period in both Maputo and Lisbon.