Chaves | Comrade Cunhal

July 1956. Álvaro Cunhal arrives at the Peniche Fort and is placed in the most modern and secure prison wing, considered to be escape-proof. Despite the tight control exercised over the prisoners, Álvaro and his comrades manage to organise a small commune and support the most vulnerable detainees while they look for a way to escape. Prison security was reinforced after Dias Lourenço’s spectacular escape two years earlier, when the communist leader jumped from the Segredo into the sea in the middle of winter, swimming to freedom. Álvaro has six notebooks with him, in which he records some of the harshest episodes of his life, such as the violent interrogation he was subjected to during his first arrest, his insane days in solitary confinement or the death of his older brother. The prison routine is difficult and repetitive. One day, one of his companions realises that there is a vulnerability in the fort’s security, which they can use to escape. Inside and outside the prison, an escape plan is set in motion…