If as a whole, his work is definitely the most interesting of the directors close to Salazar, Maria do Mar is without a shadow of a doubt his best work. It was considered as such both by the managers of Salazar culture and by the critics, even those belonging to the opposition. In 1942, the manager of the Secretariat for National Propaganda convinced Barros to readdress the theme and structure of Maria do Mar in a new film about fishermen (Ala Arriba) that represented Portugal at the last Mussolini Festival in Venice, winning the Coppa Volpi. The unanimity of the critics in regard to Maria do Mar can be justified by keeping in mind the two most evident aspects of the film. On one hand the town of Nazaré, held high on the proud, rugged metaphor of the nationalist, folkloristic cliché, which he saw as the living image of the “most Portuguese thing in Portugal”. A sort of Sicily on a Portuguese scale, without the Mafia but with the evil eye, without blood spill but with the sentiment of revenge. On the other hand, a clear influence by Soviet cinema and by the Russian editing school (perhaps more dependent upon Pudovkin or Olga Preobraienskaia than upon Ėjzenštejn or Vertov). This link made the film’s style quite pleasing to leftist critics who were very appreciative of the importance given to the inhabitants of Nazaré, the true protagonists. The people are in fact the leading actors in the film, with the support of a few professional actors with solid theatrical backgrounds (Manuel’s mother, Maria do Mar’s father) and of the pair of protagonists, two young actors without prior experience. (João Bénard Da Costa).