Silvestre 1981

In 15th-century Portugal, the daughters of nobleman Don Rodrigo João Guedes give shelter to a stranger who identifies himself as a pilgrim on the Saint James Way, a traveler later revealed to be more than he seems. The encounter sets off a dangerous chain of events, beginning with an assault on Sílvia’s sister and leaving her younger sibling Sílvia to defend herself by severing the attacker’s hand, a stark token kept hidden at home as a grim reminder of what happened. The family returns, and life resumes under a tense shadow as Sílvia becomes involved with a dashing, though somewhat foppish, suitor, while the household is still haunted by the visitor’s threat.

A knight arrives, seeking Sílvia’s hand with a challenge: he will win her through combat by slaying a dragon that Sílvia herself had tamed as a pet. The knight Luís Miguel Cintra defeats the dragon, and the moment is captured in a tableau so iconic that it becomes the film’s poster, a still image that lingers as a symbolic victory. Sílvia and her sister Susana—Susana—then move to the knight’s castle, where they uncover the knight’s true identity as the pilgrim he once appeared to be, a man seeking vengeance in a hidden guise. Susana helps Sílvia escape, and the two return to their father’s manor, the looming threat never far away.

When the king of Portugal issues orders to march against the knight’s allies while searching for Don Rodrigo, Sílvia disguises herself as a knight named “Silvestre” to aid in the war. During this campaign, she forms a close bond with her Alferes Xosé Maria Straviz, a rank that echoes continental European military structures. An injury exposes Sílvia’s gender, forcing a difficult choice between continuing the disguise and reclaiming her civilian life. Yet her feelings for the commander who sheltered her abroad deepen, pulling her toward a more intimate future.

A stranger arrives at court, presenting himself as the rightful heir of an outcast line and offering a swap: the warrior maiden’s hand in marriage in exchange for Don Rodrigo’s release. The proposal sets the stage for a dramatic confrontation during a feasting scene, but the tension erupts when Susana reveals the severed hand, exposing the stranger as the same undead figure who had taken on multiple disguises—the pilgrim and the knight—seeking control through deception. In a desperate bid to strike at Sílvia, the impostor’s plan collapses as the Alferes intervenes, saving her life and sealing the couple’s fate in a move toward an ethereal, almost astral, resolution where hope persists beyond the feast.

Throughout the film, the cast’s characters blend myth and danger with personal longing, and the narrative unfolds with a patient, almost ceremonial pace that emphasizes identity, disguise, and the costs of love. The king’s voice—delivered in a brief cameo by director João César Monteiro—surfaces as a distant, authoritative thread guiding the broader pursuit, while the core relationship between Sílvia and the knight who becomes her unlikely ally drives the story toward a final, otherworldly cadence.