I'm a sucker for father/son stories. The Mexican reality film Alamar shows us that relationship in a pure form—no external drama, no story that must be completed—just the moments of this father and son together—for the last time for a long while.

The film follows real people: Jorge Machado and his son Natan. Natan's mother and Jorge were married briefly, but in many ways the union was doomed. Jorge is a fisherman in the beautiful Banco Chinchorro area off the Yucatan Peninsula. Natan's mother is Italian and is a city person. She is getting ready to move back to Rome, taking Natan with her. Before they leave, Natan (age, about 5 or 6) will spend some time with Jorge. It is Jorge's chance to pass on to Natan a bit of his life and culture.

We don't see any animosity in this family. Indeed, in the mother's words that play over some photographs as the film begins, she never speaks of regretting the marriage. She sees their time together as a wonderful experience and Natan as a magnificent gift to them. The problem was that they came from two such different worlds. As she puts it, "I'm unhappy in your reality, as you are in mine." There is no judgment of which reality is better. They are just different.

So Natan is going to experience his father's reality before leaving for Italy. Jorge and Natan spend all their time together. When Jorge and his father go out fishing, Natan is in the boat with them. At various times the adults are snorkeling and spear fishing, or they are catching barracuda on lines they pull in by hand (and here Jorge's father still has some things to teach Jorge), or cleaning the fish and throwing bits to the hovering birds or a crocodile waiting for fish heads to be thrown to him. Through it all, Natan is with them, soaking in the life his father lives.

But it's not just fishing that Jorge shares with his son. He also teaches him about the natural world around them. At times this world seems almost Edenic. Jorge's simple life may add to that feeling. But we shouldn't think of Jorge as a "noble savage." He knows scientific names for the animals. He has traveled far beyond his native homeland. But this is the life he chooses. This is the life that seems real and valuable to him. He wants his son to have an understanding of this life, just as he will have an understanding of life in Rome. He teaches him to be at home in nature. He shows him things of great beauty.

Without ever talking about it, we can sense that there is a loving bond between Jorge and Natan. It may be that their paths are diverging, but even in the miles and years that will be between them, the father's love for his son will be a constant.

There is a serendipitous event that I think makes a great metaphor for their relationship. One day when they are in their hut, an egret wanders in. Jorge coaxes him closer and soon he and Natan are feeding the bird, who begins to come back frequently for more food. Later, the bird doesn't come back, and Natan and Jorge go off looking for it. It is while they wander through a bit of jungle calling the bird's name, that Jorge reminds Natan that he will soon be leaving with his mother.

Although the film is Natan's experience of his father's reality, I think the real gift of this film is that viewers get to experience the reality of Jorge's and Natan's relationship.