humburger
Classics
<
To Die Like a Man by João Pedro Rodrigues
>
play button
To Die Like a Man
by João Pedro Rodrigues

Once upon a time there was a war… In the darkness of the night, a young soldier goes AWOL. Tonia, a veteran transsexual in Lisbon’s drag shows, watches the world around her crumble. The competition from younger artists threatens her star status. Under pressure from her young boyfriend Rosário to assume her female identity, the sex change operation that will transform her into a woman, Tonia struggles against her deeply-held religious convictions. If, on the one hand, she wants to be the woman that Rosário so desires, on the other, she knows that before God she can never be that woman. And her son, whom she abandoned when he was a child, now a deserter, comes looking for her. Tonia discovers that she’s ill. To get away from all her troubles she travels to the countryside with Rosário, on the excuse of visiting his brother. Rosário takes the road of his childhood but will never find the right way. Lost, they find themselves in an enchanted forest, a magical world where they come across the enigmatic Maria Bakker and her friend Paula. And that meeting will turn their whole world on its head…

Original Title: Morrer como um homem
Countries: Portugal, France
Year: 2009
Ratio: 1.33:1
Sound: Dolby
Length: 134 min
Language: Portuguese
Festivals & Awards
2009
  • Cannes Film Festival – Un Certain Regard
About Director
João Pedro Rodrigues

João Pedro Rodrigues began his studies in biology with the aim of becoming an ornithologist before turning to film at the Lisbon Film School, where he graduated. His work explores human desire in all its forms, with a particular focus on queer experiences, across fiction, documentary, and experimental cinema.
He has directed six feature films: Phantom (2000), Two Drifters (2005), To Die Like a Man (2009), The Last Time I Saw Macao (2012, co-directed with João Rui Guerra da Mata), The Ornithologist (2016), and Will-o'-the-Wisp (2022), along with numerous short films, often in collaboration with Guerra da Mata.
His films have screened at major festivals including Cannes, Venice, Locarno, and Berlin. Will-o'-the-Wisp, his latest feature, was presented at Directors’ Fortnight of Cannes Film Festival in 2022.

FILMOGRAPHY
  • Phantom – 2000
  • Two Drifters – 2005
  • To Die Like A Man – 2009
  • The Ornithologist – 2016
  • Will-o'-the-Wisp – 2022
Cast & Crew
Cast

Fernando Santos
Alexander David
Gonçalo Ferreira de Almeida
Chandra Malatitch
Jenny Larrue
Cindy Scrash
Fernando Gomes
Miguel Loureiro
André Murraças

Crew

Director: João Pedro Rodrigues
Screenwriter: João Pedro Rodrigues, Rui Catalão, João Rui Guerra da Mata
DOP: Rui Poças Aip
Art director: Fernando Areal
Editors: Rui Mourão, João Pedro Rodrigues
Costume Design: Patrícia Dória
Sound: Nuno Carvalho
Production: Rosa Filmes
Coproduction: Ad Vitam
World sales: Luxbox