BRUMAS MISTS
synopsis
More than fifty years later the
protagonist meets Maria José again. She used to be a maid at his parents’
house, when he was a child. From her he has heard the most implausible stories.
She was then eighteen and he was about six. The young lady became a deeply
wrinkled old woman, a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother,
with the sea dwelling in her soul. She lives in a fishermen’s village
with white and diminutive houses perched at the edge of a cliff in Peniche, at a neighbourhood known as “Windows of the Sea”.
Based on her experience and wisdom,
she now tells the story of her life, in short vivid sequences. This story
reflects itself in the personal and distorted narrative of the protagonist.
Being unique, the woman is somehow a typecast. She repeats ancient and
life-giving gestures, illuminating childhood dreams. The camera follows those
steps, moves backwards, reveals the splendour of certain images, her daily routine.
And then it lurches forward suggesting a disquieting outcome of situations of
these days. To make that possible all it takes is a flick-knife. A handsaw, a
broom stick, some bamboo canes, several floaters from the sardine nets, a few
magic tricks complete the tool kit.
Seduced by the protagonist, the
grandson and the great grandson – whom she adores – share, with others, a
fabulous adventure: the play, the deep blue of the sea, the unpredictable