Hero on the Front

 The year was 1918. Aníbal Milhais was one of 75,000 Portuguese soldiers sent to Flanders in defense of the Western Front. During the Battle of La Lys, when his beleaguered unit was forced into retreat, Milhais ignored superior orders and stood his ground in the trenches. Before him, two German divisions advanced across no-man's-land. Behind him, his battalion of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps and a Scottish regiment, having been decimated by a massive preparatory artillery barrage. Armed only with his Lewis light machine gun named "Luisinha", he single-handedly fought off successive waves of attack Germans, saving the lives of countless Allied troops. Twenty-five years later, still haunted by the memories of war, Milhais recalls the stories that led to his fame as the soldier "worth a million men" and HERO ON THE FRONT is his incredible true story.

Directed by Gonçalo Galvão Teles and Jorge Paixao da Costa, this lavish period war drama captured five prestigious Portuguese Academy Awards (the "Sophia"): Best Screenplay," "Best Special Effects," "Best Art Direction," "Best Film Editing," and "Best Sound".