“One of the founders of the new Portuguese cinema, Alberto Seixas Santos employs a ‘collage' approach to filmmaking.... He juxtaposes newsreels, interviews, didactic material, and fictional sequences within his narratives to indicate the complex, often evasive nature of his subjects. Gestures and Fragments presents three variations on the same theme: the relationship between the military and political power over the last ten years. Three ‘witnesses' offer their views: the controversial former general, Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, gives a personal account of the events that led to the radicalization of the armed forces, culminating in the coup of April 25, 1974 and the fall of the Salazarist regime; a professor, Eduardo Lourenco, makes an analysis of the forces which led the traditionally apolitical military to become a major factor in the government; finally, a (fictional) American journalist (played by filmmaker Robert Kramer) attempts to expose those guilty for the failure of the revolution. Together, (they) form a provocative portrait of a highly peculiar institution whose role in the future of Portugal is still undetermined.” Richard Pena, The Film Center