Labor on the Douro River

Oliveira's first film, shot around the harbour in Oporto, Portugal, is an avant-garde series of images of the fishermen and assorted workers of the town. Although there are obvious influences from other 'art' films of the time, it isn't simply a montage of unrelated images, but a vision of a working town, even with so much as a narrative thread running through. The version I have seen (at the London Film Festival 2001) was overseen by the director himself with a new score by Emmanuel Nunes. It is a pounding, vibrant 18 minutes, despite it's limitations.