Entroncamento Review: Intergenerational Crime

Pedro Cabelaira’s Entroncamento (Night Passengers) effectively explores the trappings of crime and bigotry, but fails to flesh out its characters.

Her drug-dealing family members and new acquaintances provide an irresistible pull towards criminality. Laura, like many of Entroncamento (Night Passengers)’s sympathetic criminals, hasn’t been given a fair shake, whether that’s in her early life, the mysterious and ominous circumstances that drive her to the municipality of Entroncamento, or a current lack of opportunity. Also like all sympathetic criminals, she fails to recognise that the ultimate hoodwink in this sordid realm is not that crime eventually gives way to abject violence and wayward morals, but that it could ever have looked appealing from the get-go.

At least, that should be the end goal of a project like this. But director and co-writer Pedro Cabelaira (who penned this screenplay alongside Diogo dos Santos Figueira) refuses to accept that these paths can lead to ruin. There is always, inexplicably, a way out, a deference to one’s basic freedoms that doesn’t hold up well to the reality of the spiral of criminality encircling these characters and their community.

In this multi-story ensemble, far more ire is directed at those in positions of power, like bigoted police officers who mistreat repeat offenders and irritatingly impartial schoolteachers who treat this same strand of bigotry with a blasé attitude, than towards the criminals themselves. That’s not to say that justice is imposed within this film’s criminal realm, which looms large over almost all of these characters’ lives, yet in its unique form of order there are hardly any traces of violence. But this also means that there are few consequences for criminality, with the unfortunate by-product of this being that the entire film feels as if it’s of little consequence.

This director proves that much can be achieved with a slight budget, with a lengthy opening scene teeming with humanity and authentic conversation, where an attempt at a drug deal soon becomes a dispute, then a robbery conducted at gunpoint. It occasionally takes a few seconds to orient oneself in scenes whose cinematography betrays a small production budget, but that’s quickly forgotten amidst how easy it is to become immersed in these characters’ lives.

Laura is just one of many attempting to carve out a better path for herself, and like all of these struggling people, she has no great desire to hurt others. But one can only be good-natured for so long in the shady world of drugs and the debts they can accrue, where you must either pretend to be an enforcer or embody this avatar for good. Just as the film’s direction and acting is stellar enough to immerse viewers completely within this world, these characters must ask themselves whether or not they are prepared to become engulfed by these endeavours.

Entroncamento is not a provocative film. It gets us on these criminals’ side too easily, whether that’s in watching a man lovingly stroke his beau’s hair before a drug deal, wordlessly letting us know that all his endeavours are for her sake, or Laura’s fruitless efforts in her job hunt. First this protagonist struggles to find anywhere to work, then later questions the point of menial labour when there are much easier — and better paid — ways of making a living. But while it might not have much to question about society, besides anti-immigrant bigotry and some despicable remarks about the Roma population — in scenes that are well-acted yet too bluntly written to resonate deeply — there are plenty of opportunities to sit with these characters and contemplate their lives. These are everyday people working with whatever is in their means to make the most amount of money possible, and this film never forgets that.

But it does often forget about these characters, flitting between different storylines so steadily that it forgets to convey any semblance of a journey since these characters aren’t given the chance to have meaningful arcs. There’s also something weightless about the film’s flighty structure and unwillingness to sink these characters into the murky depths of the criminal underworld, dulling how absorbing individual scenes are.

By the time it ends, Entroncamento will leave you wanting more. It’s a frustrating feeling that’s as much indebted to the film’s successes as it is to its flaws. On the one hand, it is teeming with humanity, where even the smallest of interactions is imbued with authenticity. At the same time, there is so much left unsaid in these characters’ lives. It is far more unsatisfying a feeling than it is a poignant one, even if Entroncamento as a whole showcases a keen new talent in Cabelaira for uncovering humanity in unlikely places.

Entroncamento (Night Passengers) premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2025, as part of the L’ACID strand.