The Tree of Knowledge
A Árvore do Conhecimento
- Doclisboa 2025
Synopsis
Gaspard, a teenager from the outskirts of Lisbon, falls into the hands of the Ogre, a man who long ago made a pact with the Devil. The boy is used as bait for tourists, whom the Ogre turns into animals before killing them — until Gaspard escapes with a donkey and a dog he has grown fond of, and takes shelter in an enchanted mansion haunted by the spirit of Queen Maria I. Eugène Green tells all of this with a perfectly straight face, as a fairy tale, and lets the fable do the work of a pamphlet about what mass tourism has done to the city.