Jose: Our Little Portuguese Cousin

Portugal, 1910. A republic rises in Lisbon, but in the sun-baked hills of the countryside, twelve-year-old Jose Almaida's world centers on his family's modest farm. When his father falls seriously ill, Jose must step into adult shoes: tending the vines, managing the household, and holding everything together while waiting for his elder brother Antonio, who has emigrated to America. The political revolution raging in the cities feels distant compared to Jose's private anxieties about his father's health and his desperate hope for Antonio's return. When his brother finally comes home, the reunion brings not just joy but a glimpse of new possibilities for the family. Sawyer captures rural Portuguese life at a moment of transformation, where children bow respectfully to their elders, where education represents hard-won opportunity, and where a boy's simple dream of his family being whole again feels universal across time.