THE ORNITHOLOGIST/ O ORNITOLOGO

Portugal, 2016, 117 minutes, Colour.
Paul Hamy,Joao Pedro Rodriguez, Han Wen, Chan Suan and, Juliane Elting.
Directed by Joao Pedro Rodriguez.

While initially an audience might believe they are coming to see a nice film about a bird watcher, and there are some pleasant scenes of Fernando (Paul Hamy) on the river, his binoculars, looking at some beautiful birds, nesting, eggs…, it might be prudent to advise that this is not a straightforward narrative film. It is something of an allegory, it has touches of the mystical, and, for many audiences, maybe quite too mysterious.

There is an opening quotation from Saint Anthony of Lisbon, better known to us all as Saint Anthony of Padua, originally a Portuguese man named Fernando who became a Franciscan, and who has devout legends about him as being the patron of things which are lost as well as the story of his preaching to the birds. The opening quotation has references to nature, echoes of the spirituality of St Francis of Assisi, as well as a sense of spirits in the forests.

Something of this needs to be kept in mind. The director, Joao Pedro Rodriguez, has made a short film about celebrating the feast of Saint Anthony. And it can be noted that, by the end of the film, the director himself appears as an actor, taking over from Paul Hamy as the ornithologist, and this time called Anthony rather than Fernando as he and another character walk, like pilgrims, into the actual city of Padua.

Another note which will help audiences understand the approach of Rodriguez is that he is a gay man and there are some significant gay perspectives throughout the film.

When Fernando is caught in the rapids and his kayak is split, he lies in the water but has not drowned. Now begin some of the mysteries. He is rescued by two young Chinese women, who say that they are on their way to Compostella, walking the Camino. They are rather off-track, in forests in the north of Portugal where it meets Spain. While they are nervous, and say their prayers, and feed Fernando, they then tie him up, roped upright in his underwear resembling the image of Jesus on the cross.

But there are more encounters in Fernando’s Odyssey, most significantly a mute and deaf young man who write his name on the sand, Jesus. Some audiences may balk at what follows but there is a sexual interlude between Fernando and the young man, (perhaps a gay suggestion of the intimacy between St Anthony and Jesus himself), but there are some violent consequences with Jesus’ side pierced by a knife and blood flowing out.

In the forests there are some strange men, masks and elaborate costumes, shouting and dancing – preparing for a fiesta and one of them, Thomas, turns out to be the twin brother of Jesus. He also has a knife wound in his side (and it was Thomas who wanted to put his finger in Jesus’ side – as Fernando puts his finger in Thomas’s side).

Keeping the mythical tone, Fernando is accosted by three bare-breasted Amazons who actually speak to him in Latin. They let him go.

Birds are present throughout the film, images, bird sounds – and, significantly in a tableau at the end, there is a white dove (which some audiences researching the Catholic symbolism missed), the Holy Spirit in the forest. The quote from Saint Anthony at the opening of the film did indicate that there were spirits in the forest.

And, finally, Thomas and the now Anthony walking into Padua – and the Chinese girls passing by, waving from the other side of the road.

Plenty to puzzle over for those wanting to take the allegory further.

1. The title? Audience expectations? The presence of birds in the film? Real? Symbolic?

2. The forest settings, the north of Portugal, near the Spanish border? River, mountains, forests, forest paths, cliffs? The musical score?

3. The introduction, the quote from Saint Anthony, nature, the presence of spirits?

4. The narrative drawing on the story of St Anthony, of Lisbon, of Padua? The director having made a short film about the feast of Saint Anthony? Anthony’s birth name as Fernando, the name of the central character? The central character at the end becoming Anthony, in the form of the director and his performance? Anthony, Padua, from Portuguese to Italian? Becoming a Franciscan, in the tradition of St Francis, nature and birds? His preaching and the birds listening? The end of the film as Anthony and Thomas enter Padua?

5. Fernando, his work as an ornithologist, on the beach, in the kayak, his binoculars, focusing on the birds, their brooding, the eggs? His age, experience, phoning his friend, the friend’s concern, especially when he was lost, taking his medication? The delight in the birds, the rapids, the breaking of the kayak, his being stranded, left in the water?

6. The narrative seen as a variation on the Odyssey, the various encounters, the Chinese sirens, the deaf and mute man, the Amazons…?

7. The gay perspective? The director, his life and career? Fernando and his phone calls to his friend, the love and the messages? Fernando with the women, feeding him, yet
tying him up and his escape? The encounter with Jesus? The background of Anthony of Padua and his relationship with Jesus, commitment? The two men, the friendship, the fishing, on the beach, the bonding, the graphic sexual encounter? Lying on the beach? Conflict, the fight, the knife, Jesus death? The wounded side with blood? The encounter with Thomas, the twin brother? (The apostle Thomas and his name is The Twin?)? Thomas wounded, blood or not from his side? Thomas and the Gospels wanting blood from Jesus’ side, communicating with Thomas? Fernando becoming Anthony and their pilgrimage to Padua?

8. The Chinese girls, Catholic background, their prayer, the Lord’s prayer? Rescuing Fernando, the initial fears, the enigma of Chinese girls in the woods, their being lost, their being on pilgrimage to Compostella? Sharing their food? The communication? But their tying up Fernando and his standing, roped, the image of Jesus at the crucifixion? Fernando getting free and escaping?

9. The episode with Jesus, the bond, sharing, violence, death?

10. The men in the night, the masks and their costume, the fear? The dancing, the shouting? The rituals? Fernando discovering who they were, Thomas? Rehearsing for a fiesta? Frightening images – then not frightening?

11. The Amazons, the women on horseback, the mythology of the Amazons, the speaking in Latin? The attack on Fernando, letting him go free?

12. The transformation into Anthony, the program Road to low Padua, the city limits, seeing the Chinese girls?

13. The mysticism of the narrative, the experiences? The birds? The significance of watching the white dove – and whether audiences remembered the symbolism of the Dove as the Holy Spirit?

14. How successful a combination of narrative, allegory, mysticism