Antidote for February

Gray: the color of February.  It is the month we long to escape our Midwestern chains for sun and sea and color.  If a tropical paradise isn't in the works for you this month, though, do not despair!  Substitute escapism for escape and your library can help.

Take, for example, the film Alamar (To the Sea).  This movie tells the possibly true story of Jorge, a Mayan, who has a love affair in Rome with an Italian woman.  By the time their son Natan is born, they have realized that their feelings are not enough to keep them together.  As Jorge says, " It's not just a problem about feelings. The problem... is that I'm unhappy with your reality and you are with mine."

So Jorge returns to the Yucatan, with the agreement that five-year-old Natan will come later to spend a summer with him.

That's the back story.  The film follows Jorge's attempts to introduce his son to his Mayan heritage and the life of a fisherman.  The rhythm of their life together is gently seductive and the pristine Chinchorro reef is quite possibly the most gorgeous setting on earth.

Director Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio describes his film as "organic" and refuses to answer those who ask if it is truth or fiction.  All of the actors, however, are playing themselves in real situations and they are related to each other as presented.

In the end, it doesn't really matter.  Natan will return to Rome, we will return to reality.  But the memory of his father and the sea will always be with him - and with us.

Alamar is one of the Film Movement series of award-winning foreign and independent films.  They're at your library!