A newly released Bermuda-made film about Bermuda's connection to the Azores attempts to answer the proverbial question "can you ever really go home again?".

'The Returnees' produced and directed by filmmaker Charles Reilly and businessman Robert Pires, follows a group of Portuguese-Bermudians who were invited by the Portuguese government to visit the Azores in 2004.

The film is being released exactly 160 years after the first group of Portuguese immigrants arrived on Bermuda's shores on November 4, 1849.

The people from the Portuguese island of Madeira were brought to Bermuda on the brigantine Golden Rule.

They were contracted to work for local families. The idea was for them to improve Bermuda's agricultural production, but also to pad out Bermuda's then sparse population in case of military invasion.

After 1849 the majority of Portuguese immigrants to Bermuda were from the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores which is about 420 miles from Madeira.

Unfortunately, even after 160 years, issues surrounding work permits and status still exist for Portuguese immigrants.

"The visit to the Azores was arranged to discuss issues in the Portuguese community in Bermuda, including the long-term resident controversy that arose in 2004," said Mr. Pires.

But after filming the meeting with the government, it was decided to take the film deeper.

The Bermuda delegation included United Bermuda Party Deputy Leader Trevor Moniz, Mr. Pires, who is chief executive officer of BIAS Ltd., Music Box store owner Eddie DeMello and members of the Vasco Da Gama club.

The group represented a cross-section of Portuguese-Bermudian experiences – from people who have been here for generations, to others who came more recently.

"For some of the men the journey provokes a return to the memories of their childhood and the painful emigration away from the Azores to their new home in Bermuda," said Mr. Pires.

"For others, the journey represents a search for their ancestral roots and an understanding of the Azorean culture which for them has long been lost after more than four generations in Bermuda."

Both Mr. Moniz and Mr. Pires' families have lived in Bermuda for several generations. Two of Mr. Moniz' ancestors were on the Golden Rule, Jose D'Abreu (Aubrey) and Antonio DeGrilla.

Other branches of his family came from the Azores in the 1880s, part of the same wave that brought Mr. Pires' family.

Mr. Pires' grandfather, Carlos DaCosta Pires, was one of a handful of Portuguese immigrants who helped to start the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Bermuda in the early 1900s.

Mr. DeMello represented a more recent experience. He came to Bermuda with his family as a child in the 1940s.

"One of my favourite scenes in the movie was with Eddie DeMello, sitting on the dock in Ponta Delgada," continued Mr. Pires.

"He talks about how, at nine years old, he had to take a propeller plane to go to Bermuda."

Mr. DeMello caught a flight that flew from Lisbon to the Azores, to Bermuda and then to New York and down to Miami, Florida before terminating in Mexico City.

"As a child they didn't get planes into Sao Miguel," said Mr. Pires. "You had to take a boat over to the nearby island of Santa Maria which is about 40 miles away."

The flight across the Atlantic was scheduled to take 12 hours. It got very rough when the plane flew near a hurricane.

"You can imagine how terrifying that was for a nine-year-old," said Mr. Pires. "Then they ended up in Bermuda, a country where they could have been Martians.

"They didn't know what anyone was saying around them. They had to go to school to learn English. It was quite a challenge for a nine-year-old. That, of all the parts of the film, is my favourite part. You really get to know something about Eddie."

In learning about Mr. DeMello's childhood, you also learn a lot about the Portuguese immigrant experience, Mr. Pires said.

"That is very moving," said Mr. Pires. "I never experienced that because I was born in Bermuda."

Mr. Pires' experience in the Azores was quite different. He spent the time on a quest to find his grandfather's birth certificate. "I had been there two or three years before to try and learn as much about the culture as I could," he said. "This time I wanted to find the birth certificate."

But when the record office was consulted he found a dizzying array of records written in 19th century Portuguese script.

"I assumed that in the municipal county of Ponta Delgada, each town would have one parish.

"In fact, Ponta Delgada has 20 parishes. The only way to find my grandfather's birth certificate was to know the church where he was baptised."

Mr. Pires said his was a journey of self-discovery.

But he said he felt a real connection with the Azores on this trip. "There is a scene in the airport when there are a group of Portuguese people huddled, talking. Me and Trevor are just standing to the side, oblivious to what is being said.

"I don't speak Portuguese. It sounds so foreign, and yet there is a rhythm to Portuguese speech that sounds familiar.

"We may not speak the same language, but the heartbeat or something in the genetic makeup is pumping at the same speed. So you feel and look like you belong, but you are actually anglicised."

The documentary series is presented in five 25 episodes. It is part travelogue and part personal quest. While in the Azores, the group visited many tourist spots including a pineapple farm and a tea plantation. "The Azores has the only tea plantation in Europe," said Mr. Pires.

'The Returnees' aired on local television in 2004, but has only just made it to DVD.

Mr. Pires hopes the DVD will be in stores soon, as it is currently on the dock.

The DVD may be purchased at Animal & Garden House, the Bermuda Bookstore, Brown & Company Book Café, Sound Stage, The Music Box, Walker-Christopher and other stores around the Island.

To see a model of The Golden Rule visit the Masterworks Gallery's 'We are Sailing' exhibit at the Botanical Gardens until January. The model was made by William Eisele and is currently owned by Henry Cox.