Roberta (Roberta Palombini) thinks that she and Jorge (Jorge Machado) were destined to meet so they could have their child, Natan (Natan Machado Palombini). But it wasn't destined that she and Jorge should stay together. She can't handle his world — he's a Mayan fisherman on Mexico's Banco Chinchorro Reef — and they break up. Roberta plans to return to Rome with Natan, but before they leave, Jorge takes his son to the reef for a farewell visit.
Pedro González-Rubio's limpid vérité drama, in the anthropological mode of The Story of the Weeping Camel, records this interlude, observing the details of sea, landscape, and wildlife and the routines of Jorge and his father (Néstor Marín) and how they pass their knowledge on to Natan.
The rhythms of the film come as naturally as breathing, but the tone is elegiacal. As much about how to look at nature as it is about the politics of family, Alamar is worth seeing, if only for the cattle egret that puts in the year's best animal performance.
