”Ala Arriba” ..............Leitão de Barros.

Ala-Arriba! set in Póvoa de Varzim, a traditional Portuguese fishing village, is a documentary-fiction. Its aim, to show how this community of fishermen lived. Special attention was paid to the customs and the rituals. As it deals with ethnographic matters it falls under the genre of ethno-fiction. In order to give a realistic view of the traditions and social behaviour of the community, the actors were real fishermen portraying their own lives. Ala-Arriba intertwines documentary and drama, shifting from one to the other to highlight life in Póvoa de Varzim.
Contemporary to Robert Flaherty, Barros is with him one of the first filmmakers to explore docu-fiction and ethno-fiction as forms of dramatic narrative.
The plot, simple as it may seem, shows the social differences between the ordinary, poorer fisherman, the Sardineiro, João Moço (Domingos Gonçalves) and the richer, Lancheiro, Julia (Elsa Bela-Flor). The community stresses on good moral behaviour on the part of the women as well as men, strange as it may seem. All hell breaks loose when João Moço has a fling with a Gypsy, who had robbed his mother’s earrings. The person who really takes it to heart and is terribly ashamed of his son is Saramago, he throws João out of his house and João cannot work for any other fisherman. João, is truly on his own.
And then the tragedy happens, a terrible, storm creates havoc at sea, boats are lost and men are lost too. Although, João is banned from going to sea, he rushes into the storm and manages to save Julia’s father, but two people are lost in this storm, Chincha, João’s friend and Chibata, João’s rival.
What is really amazing about this film is the Cinematography. Shot in black and white the film would never ever had the same effect had it been shot in colour. The most powerful scene is the storm at sea, the wind churning the ocean and the boats fragile and defenseless in the face of the wrath of the mighty Ocean. The power of the vast Ocean is immense, the people mere pawns, fragile and defenseless running and shouting, the words pulled away by the wind. Another column of people rushes to the church, praying and supplicating the Blessed Virgin.
To me the most powerful yet impotent gesture was the priest holding a crucifix over the mighty Ocean to calm its anger.
The harsh black and white images will leave their imprint on our mind for a long time to come.