Alamar (To the Sea) (2009)

Alamar (for Spanish a la mar, "to the sea") ferries us with three male characters (child Natan, father Jorge, grandfather Nestor) to an isolated fishing village (basically, a few huts on stilts) off coastal Yucatan, Mexico. Natan is the offspring of a four-year relationship between his Italian mother and his Mayan-descent father. He is to live for several months with his father and grandfather to experience their lives as fishermen before he leaves to stay with his mother. Every one of these three characters is a humble powerhouse in their role -- probably because they were being themselves and these selves are as big as life. (I saw Alamar at Houston's sixth New Wave Latin American film festival and after the showing, the director spoke at length and answered questions about the film. The father, mother, and son are a family in real life and the grandfather really lives the marine life we see in the film. Because of location's isolation, spartan quarters, and length of filming on location, the director's crew consisted of himself behind the camera and a good friend he trained to record sound. He said his basic method of direction was to tell the characters what they would be doing in a scene -- painting a wall, cleaning the day's catch of fish -- then step back and let them be themselves.) The sound track is resonant and the scenery is authentic. The isolation and the immediacy of the interaction between the three generations of males is poignant and powerful though always unassumingly so. Another character that brought frequent chuckles from the foreign-film-loving audience was a white egret that the boy named Blanquita. (The director said the bird just showed up during filming, looking for cockroaches to eat, so he incorporated it into the film. Asked about the bird's fate, he assured the audience that no egrets were harmed in the making of the film -- though the same could certainly not be said for fish and lobsters -- since once she ate all the bugs, the egret just flew away.) I won't forget Alamar for its stark simplicity and candor, and I sincerely hope to see it again. 4.5 stars.