Pedro Bastos’ latest film – shown at the 2013 Portuguese Competition with “Ao Lobo de Madragoa” – employs the “socratic” interrogatory process to uncover the fundamental ontological source of an image. Voiceover questions, rather than seeking complete answers or solutions, suggest levels of possible understanding, which in turn lead to further questions and speculation. It is a kind of work in progress, spiralling towards the source of origin. The pace is diaristic and supported in several ways – through the plastic use of film in particular – and the latent pictorial expression of the distorted abandoned house. The film follows a poetic path beginning with the memory of infancy, backwards rather than forwards in the direction of the maternal womb (the first image?). Of note are the absolutely crucial sound treatment – as in the recorded scratching of the walls for example and likewise the more literal evocation off screen of the mould, must and damp, giving a profoundly sensorial atmosphere to the film. (FN)