No, or the Vain Glory of Command

A group of soldiers, led by Lieutenant Cabrita, trundle through the jungle by truck toward a base from which they will engage guerrillas. The march is suffused with fatalism and fatigue, as the men question the purpose of their prolonged involvement. The sense of isolation around Portugal grows as international powers and rival movements oppose their colonial war.

In a flashback, Viriathus fights Roman invaders in Lusitania. He proves a skilled guerrilla commander, yet he cannot secure a lasting kingdom, as Roman power ultimately dominates. The episode underscores the limits of guerrilla success and the lure of quick, noble victories that never endure.

In another flashback, Portugal's bid to unite with Spain falters during the Castilian War of Succession. King Afonso is defeated at Toro in 1476, preventing Iberia's unification. The scene frames imperial dreams as fragile, undone by political fortune.

Another flashback depicts a peaceful but unsuccessful attempt at unification through marriage, cut short by the death of a Portuguese prince. The plan dissolves before it can bind the two kingdoms together. The moment reinforces themes of missed opportunities and the cost of ambition.

In a fourth flashback, Vasco da Gama sails toward a mythical Isle of Love, aided by Venus and shown the cosmic harmony by Thetis. The voyage is celebrated as a reward for exploration, yet it is framed within myth as a reminder of temptation and peril. The sequence links Portugal's age of discovery to a mythic order beyond empire.

A sixth flashback portrays the ill-fated Battle of Alcácer Quibir in 1578, where Dom Sebastião's diverse army is decisively defeated. The battle becomes a symbol of a vanished utopian Fifth Empire and the peril of dreaming of a Catholic world domination. The king's fate looms as a haunting reminder of lost hope.

The soldiers set up a jungle camp and Cabrita contemplates the futility of territorial conquests. He argues that true legacy lies in what one contributes to humanity, not in what one seizes. The reflections connect Portugal's explorer legacy to a broader meditation on purpose and sacrifice.

The next morning, guerrillas ambush the unit, and Cabrita is seriously wounded. The attack shatters any illusion of a clean, winnable war and casts a pall over the soldiers' morale. They brace for a dangerous night and a difficult road ahead.

Cabrita is airlifted to a military hospital, and his consciousness drifts into a historical battle. The delirium blends present peril with past catastrophe, blurring the line between memory and reality. It marks the beginning of a dreamlike descent toward his fate.

In the hospital, a spectral Dom Sebastião appears, squeezing his sword until blood drips, linking Cabrita's fate to the doomed king's myth. The vision intensifies the sense of inevitable tragedy tied to Portugal's mythic past. It deepens the film's meditation on history as fate.

Despite medical care, Cabrita dies on April 25, 1974, marking the end of his personal pilgrimage and of the colonial war. His death occurs on the eve of Portugal's Carnation Revolution, signaling a dramatic political shift. The climax ties individual fate to larger historical upheaval.

The credits roll to a song from The Lusiads, lending a ritual cadence to the end of the story. The music reinforces the film's meditation on history, myth, and the cost of empire. The closing scene leaves the audience with a lingering sense of cyclical history.