This is a film of whaling, and you feel like being thrown into the world of Moby Dick. It is a documentary and only interesting as such, while Orson Welles' recital of abstract poems of the sea and whaling does not much to enhance the substance of the film. You get into the lives of the villagers of the Azores, but you are not shown much of the islands, as most of the action is at sea. The only relief and great moment of joy in the film is when one whale hunt fails as the whale succeeds in turning the hunting whale boat over. At last one victory for one of the poor persecuted and butchered whales, while it was only temporary...
Review of Barbed Water
