A Slow Boat to Somewhere

Lunchtime is a good time to sit and eat a sandwich, sip some Gatorade and watch a short film. I've yet to find a decent site online to do this…one that doesn't assault you with ads and where the video technology actually works consistently…so in the meantime I'm still stuck with DVDs for my lunchtime viewing.

So that said, I just finished watching a superb little film that should appeal to all engaged travel fans.

A Slow Boat to Somewhere is Jon Bowermaster's film about sailing (in the motorized sense) the vast blue waters of Polynesia aboard a cargo vessel. Bowermaster and his small team of cameramen and photographers (including adventure photographer Peter McBride) ride along with a Polynesian cargo boat crew as they deliver goods to some of the globe's most isolated coral atolls. While the concept may seem on the surface to be as slow as the boats themselves, it works well because of Bowermaster's genuine interest in the subject and the care he takes to reveal the lives of the people he meets. In one intensely poignant scene, Bowermaster's camera whirs as a man struggles to keep his girlfriend from leaving a desolate atoll. (and I mean desolate…Bowermaster explains in the film that there are only like 7 people living on this island, and the conditions there are hardly Club Med). The "boyfriend", apparently drunk, grabs the woman by the waist as she seeks to escape. She screams and kicks, and some burly Polynesian dudes pry her from the guy's arms. Nasty stuff, as Bowermaster tells us in an on camera aside.

The film has shown at numerous outdoor film festivals to decent acclaim.

I am a big admirer of Bowermaster's work. I've read one of his books and many of his articles. His Oceans 8 project is exceedingly cool. (I believe he's actually in Croatia as I write this.) Fans of Bowermaster will appreciate his venture here into yet another medium. I urge you to check it out.

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