Lines of Wellington

This 2012 Franco-Portuguese war drama was conceived by Chilean director Raúl Ruiz, who died in 2011 before filming began; the project was completed by his widow, Valeria Sarmiento. The narrative opens on 27 September 1810, when Marshal Masséna's French troops are beaten at Buçaco by the Anglo-Portuguese army under General Wellington. Yet despite their victory, the allies are forced to pull back, and the struggle shifts toward the celebrated defensive works remembered as the Lines of Torres Vedras. Set during Napoleon's third invasion of Portugal, the film interweaves the personal stories of soldiers and civilians whose lives are overturned by the fighting. John Malkovich portrays Wellington in an ensemble that also includes Nuno Lopes, Soraia Chaves, Marisa Paredes, Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert. The picture competed for the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival and was Portugal's submission for the foreign-language prize at the 86th Academy Awards, though it went unnominated. An extended cut was later re-edited as the RTP1 miniseries As Linhas de Torres.