Abstract
José Leitão de Barros is an unavoidable name of the Portuguese cinema from the 20s to the 50s. Despite having worked during a dictatorship, one can see in his films traces of an authorship mark that go beyond the ties of the regime. One of these marks is a coherent universe that passes through several films. During his career, he has directed five movies that have the sea and fishermen as its main theme: Nazaré, Praia de Pescadores (1929), Maria do Mar (1930), A Pesca do Atum (1939), Póvoa de Varzim (1942) e Ala-Arriba! (1942). At first sight, we could think that this set of films had a similar structure: two documentary short films of a particular location (Nazaré, Praia de Pescadores e Póvoa de Varzim) would frame two feature films made shortly after in those same locations with the participation of the local population (Maria do Mar e Ala-Arriba!). However, this is not the case as we intend to show how A Pesca do Atum is more a preamble, or a preparatory study for Ala-Arriba! than Póvoa de Varzim itself. We will also focus on the strong documental aspect even of the feature films, which is not a surprise as, according to José Manuel Costa, Leitão de Barros was in line with the international trend of the 20s that inspired the origin of documentary as a film genre.
Highlights
José Leitão de Barros is an unavoidable name of the Portuguese cinema from the 20s to the 50s
Se quisermos ir um pouco mais além, poderemos acrescentar que o esforço físico do trabalho da pesca é visto de dentro dos próprios barcos, nomeadamente quando os homens estão a remar, e podemos resumir o argumento dos dois filmes de ficção (Maria do Mar e Ala-Arriba!) numa só frase: uma história de amor entre duas pessoas de famílias desavindas, uma espécie de variação sobre o mito de Romeu e Julieta e também de Amor de Perdição, de Camilo Castelo Branco
Leitão de Barros mostra-nos as indústrias que proliferam na vila: mulheres trabalham numa fábrica de conservas de sardinha, outras estão numa de tecelagem, homens fabricam cordas para os barcos e “A Poveira” é uma fábrica de tecidos de algodão, cuja saída das trabalhadoras leva Leitão de Barros a fazer um plano muito semelhante ao plano fundador dos irmãos Lumière
Summary
José Leitão de Barros is an unavoidable name of the Portuguese cinema from the 20s to the 50s.
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