Transatlantic - KaLiVEoscope [2014, Symphonic Prog, Blu-ray]

Thirty days at sea surrounded by the powerful, majestic waves of the Atlantic Ocean that seem to go on forever. Thirty days in the daily lives of a cargo ship crew that capture some of the hidden beauty of this capricious maritime reality. Transatlantic is a documentary essay that offers itself up like a prayer, full of mystery and languor. The film is strangely and secretly hopeful. In the eyes of the sailors we see both their deep love of life at sea and their exhaustion in the face of the intensity of this cruel and unforgiving environment. The daily and nightly rituals of work and mealtimes trace the intimate, subjective and often silent existence of these men who live at sea, enclosed in the middle of the infinite ocean. Machinery rumbles, waves pound the bow, the hull cracks and squeaks under the pressure of a storm. The immense vastness of the ocean surrounds them in every direction. Officers and sailors work and play, but also dream. The ship is both a metaphor and a microcosm: an island of men in the midst of the great unknown.