Alamar
What a gem! I was a little shaky at the outset of the film, the camera video in Italy was cool, but the initial rundown of Jorge and Roberta's love and separation, albeit short, left quite a bit to be desired. Then, we say Natan as a boy, and Jorge whisks him away, and I'm not going to lie, a little road sign, something, would've been helpful to know what specifically is happening. BUT! Once we get to our destination, Banco Chinchorro, this becomes such a fantastic, nourishing cinematic experience I can hardly remember anything before the father and son arrived. Gonzalez-Rubio's camera captures this thing from so many perspectives and dimensions, on the water, in the water, lovely wide angle shots, and plenty of shots where you feel like you're sitting on the floor with Jorge and Natan, intimately witnessing the transmission of a particular set of cultural norms and values from father to son. Not to get all teacher nerdy on you, but I felt like I was witnessing a form of pure pedagogy. And that is not to idealize Jorge's path through life; on the contrary, I'm like Roberta, I couldn't imagine it. Yet, as Gonzalez-Rubio captures and carefully lays out the elements of this rather amphibious lifestyle, you come to appreciate its beauty, in the complexity of how Jorge and his father use their bodies to navigate water and land, even in how Jorge uses his body to do something as simple as keep balance on a fallen tree trunk and passes that on to Natan. The father-son wrestling montage goes beyond father-son bonding, and again you feel like the expert is teaching the novice to unlock his body in a new way, and is easily one of the finest sequences of the film. I also appreciated this depiction and positioning of man and wild as mutually coexisting, whether it's in seeing but keeping at a safe distance from the crocodiles or teaching a wild bird to climb onto your arm, and, of course, the fishing. If every man got his meat through either catching it as Jorge and his father, or having to trade to get it from people who dove for it or caught it sustainably, you'd hear no complaint from me, even with my veganism. Cruelty and environmental degradation are my issues; in Alamar, outside of some use of plastics, you get a look at a highly sustainable and peaceful way of life. Overall, even with budgetary constraints/camera quality issues, this is an immersive and lovely experience. You know it has affected you if you found the transition back to Italy at the end half as jarring as I did. Feeding the birds in the city just won't ever feel the same again.
As to the oldkid month, I got in two, would have liked to do Amadeus, but it's probably not on the menu as I have seen just too many long films from The Canon to fit in another right now. Alamar was actually a wonderful tonic in light of some of the more difficult (from the point of attention span) films that I've tasked myself to watch recently. Pluuuuusssss, it might not count, but should, but I did see Once Upon a Time in the West, Fanny and Alexander, and Lawrence of Arabia this month, too. So, that's like, five. It's been a pleasure, any month where you can boast The Mirror and Alamar as new finds is a good one, indeed.