O Velho e o Mar

An American drama; A story about an old Cuban fisherman who has not caught anything in 84 days. This is a film adaptation of Hemingway's Pulitzer winning novella. The best that can be said about it is Spencer Tracy's Academy Award nominated performance, its winning score, and the sumptuous colour photography also recognised that year by the Academy. It is a faithful adaptation in terms of narrative. Tracy embodies the old man wonderfully, particularly in capturing the modesty and kindliness of Santiago - the Cuban apprentice boy's hero. The film's shortcomings can be said to be the production values i.e. The scenes at sea. The producers also failed to effect Santiago's wrestling with the fish, scenes which were key to the source material as well; the brilliant stock footage of big fish only go so far to assuage the disappointment in these sequences. All in all, viewers will admire Tracy for his naturalism on screen - something that comes easy to very few film actors.