Review of To the Sea (2010) by Juan C — 08 Sep 2010
A film about learning to live with nature: long sequences show father and son training an egret to pick food from their hands. This emphasis on hands - on performing the manual labour required to survive in this region, or merely to hold one another steady at sea - leaves "Alamar" prone to resembling a rather more exotic version of those Athena posters featuring a New Age dad carrying an infant in his arms, or an extension of all those sunkissed Disney wildlife shorts - though one doubts the Mouse House would have much truck with a film that finds Nemo being plucked from the ocean and sliced into a reportedly tasty broth.
The longueurs will be the making or breaking of it, providing either a calming respite for the viewer or a trying of audience patience, although "Alamar" is nothing if not an encouragement to go along with the flow.
In its stronger, more engaging stretches, however, the film gets at something mythic and essential, turning a simple handover of custody into a vital change of scenery, and thence a real adventure of discovery: you can all but taste the salt air on your tongue.
This review of To the Sea (2010) was written by Juan C on 08 Sep 2010.
To the Sea has generally received very positive reviews.
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