Buena Vista Social Club (1998)
A Film Essay by Mark O'Hara
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In "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.
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