For more than 2000 years Ama-San have been apnea diving to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in search of mollusks as a way of living. Cláudia Varejão follows the routine of three Japanese women from different generations who practice this millenarian tradition in a fishing town in the Shima Peninsula. The film guides us discreetly through the everyday life of the Amas in their familiar lives, where the rural simplicity is adorned with care and respect in every activity of the day; the primness in their actions and the weight of tradition are pillars both on land and sea. There is something in the delicacy and serenity, both in the director’s view and in the Amas’ gestures, that takes us away from the reality of danger and particularity of this job. Besides the laughs in the social hours, the repetitious sound of the boat, the karaoke nights, there is a permanence of a certain silence, that maybe isn’t just more than an echo of what these women hear at the bottom of the sea.  (Sofia Arriscado)