SEFARAD

This sumptuous and absorbing historical drama recounts the true story of the Jews in Oporto since 1923, when Barros Basto, a Portuguese army captain converted to Judaism, and about twenty Jewish merchants from central and eastern Europe founded the Jewish Community of the city. Soon this community was shaken by news that there were descendants of 15th-century Jews in a number of Portuguese villages and who still performed Jewish rites, convinced that they were the last Jews on earth. Basto started traveling from village to village, by train, on foot, on horseback, to rescue these crypto-Jews and bring them back into the fold of official Judaism. This “rescue work” failed as the Marranos were not willing to correct some of their centuries-old practices influenced by Christianity. A huge synagogue remained almost empty for decades after decades, until something unexpected happened in the 21st century...