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"Buena
Vista Social Club," Wim Wenders has made another
important film. This story follows a group of aging Cuban
musicians from their neighborhoods in Cuba to various
concerts across the world, and finally to Carnegie Hall.
It is a documentation of guitarist Ry Cooder's journey to
Cuba to preserve a vanishing music, and the culture
behind it. As such, "Buena Vista Social Club"
serves one of the more noble functions of documentary
films.
The most watchable dimension of the film is the music.
Anyone would want to own the soundtrack of this film.
Hearing the guitar of 90 year-old Compay Segundo, the
piano of 80 year-old Ruben Gonzalez, and the voice of 70
year-old Ibrahim Ferrer, we know the reason behind making
the film. These legends of Cuban music should not fade.
And when we have the opportunity to watch their movements
and expressions as they perform, we know we are
witnessing history. Wenders and director of photography
Jorg Widmer use overlapping music to seamless and
astonishing effect: many times we listen to an artist's
performance, and then fade into an interview featuring
his or her views on music, or Cuba, or the world.
Interviews are extensive and crucial to the narrative.
Especially interesting are the views of Ibrahim Ferrer,
who sports a thin goatee and cap, and brings us into his
apartment. He speaks of various inspirations, and we
sense the hardships he's experienced - enough to make him
retire from singing so he might shine shoes - before his
resurrection through this project. Near the end, Ferrer's
observations on New York are touching; the man's
consideration of others, his lack of arrogance, his suave
singing voice - these make him the leading man of the
movie. Others are almost as interesting. Mr. Segundo
tells of being five years old and lighting his
grandmother's cigars. (He confesses to having smoked for
85 years!) We are also treated to the words of Ruben
Gonzalez, who was able to record his first solo album at
age 77. There's an irresistible scene in which Mr.
Gonzalez plays his piano for a group of small girls in a
huge Havana dance studio.
Through seeing the decaying infrastructure and
transportation of Cuba, we conceive a better
understanding of the conditions of its people. Hence we
better comprehend what these musicians have survived,
what obstacles they have faced, in order to keep their
music alive. It's worth commenting that not once do we
hear a bitter comment about the political situations
responsible for the crumbling buildings surrounding these
vibrant people.
Mixing clever storytelling techniques - like a series of
nifty "steadicam" shots that encircle the
musicians - with implicit awe for these special styles of
music, "Buena Vista Social Club" stands out as
a non-fiction film. In short, it makes the viewer want to
visit Cuba hoping that maybe, just maybe a place like the
Buena Vista Social Club still exists.
Related
Links:
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 Cubas
Musik, Cubas Menschen, Cubas Poesie
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![[Image]](http://members.tripod.com/bhundlan/bvsc02.gif)
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