The Lonely Dorymen (1968)

Directed by: George Sluizer | 58 minutes | documentary, history

George Sluizer has a clear preference for documenting unique (sub)cultures. This often concerns people who live in primitive conditions and who have to show great commitment and perseverance in order to survive. Whether it’s about a poor family in the forests of Brazil that has to set out on a gigantic raft for a few months a year to keep itself alive, or about the harrowing living conditions and (probably) futile struggle for freedom of two Palestinian families, as a viewer you are constantly amazed at how these people get through every day unscathed and relatively hopeful. This certainly also applies to the protagonists of ‘The Lonely Dorymen’, a documentary about a group of tireless Portuguese cod fishermen who, en masse, risk their lives in small, rickety boats (dories) off the coast of Newfoundland for a good catch.

The voice-over sometimes has a bit too emphatic poetic slant – with the drama on top of it – and probably puts some words or emotions in the men’s mouths here and there that they didn’t quite feel that way, but much more than that. can’t fault it with Sluizer’s impressive documentary, commissioned by The National Geographic.

These men are at sea for no less than six consecutive months a year to fill the entire hold of their (mother) ship to the brim with cod. Fish that they eat day in and day out on the ship, but which, ironically, they can’t afford to pay for themselves when they get home. And at home, that is Lisbon (or anywhere else in Portugal), where their wives and family accompany them every year with many tears and lamentations, very aware that this could be the last time they see each other .

Because dangerous – and sometimes downright irresponsible – this ‘fishing trip’ is certain. They have to fish in the freezing cold, run the risk of hitting an ice floe with their little dories, which is almost always fatal, they hardly get any sleep for months, and navigation to the freight/fishing boat back is sometimes almost impossible, especially in fog. In addition, it is an entire factory on board. The fish must not only be caught, but also filleted, stored and brined with just the right amount of salt (otherwise the whole harvest will be lost).

As a viewer you feel like one of the fishermen. The Sluizer crew is on top of almost everyone’s skin. The fishermen themselves, who stuff their small boats as full as possible with cod – until they almost capsize – and when they arrive at the mother ship, they throw them on board one by one with their prods. But also the brand new captain, who must be able to rely to a large extent on his knowledge of the sea, the tides, but also his intuition to choose the right fishing spots. He may not return home with a hold only half full, but he is also responsible for the lives of all the fishermen on board. When one evening a dory fisherman fails to return in the fog, it’s easy to empathize with the captain and the rest of the crew in this dramatic and tensely shot portion of the film.

They go on and on, these dory fishermen and in the end you can’t help but respect these purebred sailors. If Freek Vonk had filmed here for his ‘Wilde Wereld’, he would undoubtedly have said something like: ‘Holy moly, what a jackass!’