O Testamento do Senhor Napumoceno. Director Germano Almeida

Senhor Napumoceno da Silva Araújo’s funeral was conducted with great solemnity as befitted a man of his bearing and demeanour. Senhor Napumoceno was after all a leading business figure in Mindelo, the archipelago of Cabo Verde. The Chief mourner, his nephew Carlos conducted himself with dignity and poise; he felt that he was Senhor Napumoceno’s ‘Sole heir’. Sadly, Senhor Napumoceno had never found time in his extremely busy and convoluted world of business and women for a mundane act such as marriage, he always pushed it out of his mind. He was dapper, and of course very, very rich, women he knew would come flocking and they did.

Carlos took his role of the ‘Sole heir’ very seriously and on the day of the funeral nobody could have faulted his grief. One of the stipulations in a letter to him was that instead of a brass band playing, as was customary at every funeral in Cabo Verde, Beethoven’s Marcha Funebre should be played. Now that was a terribly difficult undertaking for Carlos, nobody even knew what Beethoven’s Marcha Funebre was, but Carlos with his customary tenacity did manage to get a recording of the Marcha Funebre. Carlos was determined that his uncle, Senhor Napumoceno da Silva Araújo, should lack for nothing on his last earthly voyage.

But the show must go on, the intricacies of business wait for no man, so on the very next day a very suave Carlos went to his Uncle’s Office. Carlos greeted the polite ‘Bom Dia Senhor Carlos’, at his Uncle’s Office with gravity, but hey did you notice the spring in his step? The air of nonchalance, the little jaunt of the hips. Carlos enters the sanctum sanctorum, Senhor Napumoceno da Silva Araújo’s Office, caution to the winds, decorum forgotten; Carlos full of glee, the old man is dead! Dead and I am his ‘Sole heir’. How would his own portrait look instead of that of the old fossil?

But wait a minute, Carlos; there is this tedious business, the reading of the Testament. The formal reading began in the evening and there seemed no end to it, it seemed that Senhor Napumoceno da Silva Araújo did not want his heirs to inherit without knowing the complete details of his entire life, starting from his extremely humble beginnings, meandering through his rise in business, with digressions into his many liaisons with women. Poor Carlos had suggested that he could read the Testament in the peace and quiet of his house. That is unethical said the Notary, you have to read it in the presence of the witnesses and everyone has to sign. So they went on reading, just  reading, the Notary confessed his throat dry, the witnesses took over and it went on……every little detail of his long life, his arrival at Mindelo as a small barefooted boy, hunger in his eyes, his amazing luck when instead of buying one thousand umbrellas he buys ten thousand. Was it God who gave him a little push, when it started raining in torrents in Mindelo which normally is dry as a bone?

And it went on…..But wait a minute, just when it seemed to be only a dreary narration of events, Senhor Napumoceno springs a surprise that kills any hopes that Carlos had to be named as his Sole heir. Senhor Napumoceno had an illegitimate daughter, Maria de Graça, daughter of his housekeeper Dona Chica, and she and not Carlos inherits all his wealth.

What went wrong, how did the relationship with Carlos sour? Was it because Senhor Napumoceno saw himself in Carlos’ eyes, the same hunger? Senhor Napumoceno never trusted Carlos, for they were so alike.

Did Senhor Napumoceno  have liaisons with other women, Oh yes, plenty, there was the prostitute, so good at her art, Senhor Napumoceno just could not let her go, sadly he contracts syphilis from her, but what happy times.

But the love of his life was Adelia, the beautiful Adelia who strangely disappears.

In addition to his vast heritage, Senhor Napumoceno bequeaths his daughter, Maria de Graça, a collection of audio tapes; here he describes his life in minute detail never omitting a single event. Maria de Graça tries to piece her father’s life with these tapes, but like any person’s life, her narrative has lacunae that she is unable to fill.

On the other hand, her quest and her desire to learn more about her father, brings her closer to Carlos her cousin and Dona Eduarda the new housekeeper.

Germano Almeida, the author of this wonderful book, wants to show his audience, those parallel worlds that exist in our society and life. This he does admirably with wit and sarcasm.

His desperate battle as a small boy with no shoes when he comes to São Vicente to get rich but forgets that his nephew Carlos too has the same desire. Forgets how Carlos works so very hard to make the business a huge success and very ungratefully disinherits him.

Like so very many rich people, Senhor Napumoceno loved to give but the recipient should never waver from eternal gratitude. When he died Senhor Napumoceno, was a much respected businessman, a man of integrity, a serious man with no vices. When the Testament is read, he is revealed a much different person. He is revealed a human being, with all his myriad faults but also his many strengths. Aren’t we all the same?

This wonderful book was adapted into a film by Director Francisco Manso.

The cast

Nelson Xavier (Napumoceno)
Maria Ceiça (Graça)
Chico Díaz (Carlos)
Zezé Motta (Eduarda)
Vya Negromonte (Mari Chica)
Milton Gonçalves (The Mayor)
Francisco de Assis (Fonseca)
Karla Leal (Adélia)
Camacho Costa (Paiva)
Elisa Lucinda (Dona Jóia)
José Eduardo (Dr. Scusa)
Horácio Santos (Baptista)
Alexandre de Sousa (Benoliel)
Manuel Estevão (Manuel)
Silvestre Évora (Notário)
Cesária Évora (Arminda)