I love the Vancouver Film Festival and find myself looking forwards to it every year. I have seen some of the best movies I have ever seen at this festival. There are some lousy and worthless movies in my memory bank of adventures with this film festival, but the chance to travel all around the world within three weeks is worth risking seeing the odd bad movie. The reprieve from the big block buster movies with predictable plots and saccharine dialogues is enough to stimulate this movie lover. Each year I buy the film festival catalogue and I read it cover to cover, taking delight in all the summaries of stories and ideas presented by the long list of movies. Then I sit down with a notepad and make a list of all the movies that are of interest to me. I always end up with a list of 20-30 movies that I wish to see. Then comes the painful part of witling the long list into a short list of about 6 t 7 movies that I will actually see. I find that seeing any more than that within a three week period reduces my enjoyment as all the plots and images become jumbled inside my mind. This year to my great delight I discovered that there are not one but two flamenco movies and both were placed at the top of my list right away.
The first of the flamenco movies is called Morente; a documentary by Emilio R. Barrachina about famous flamenco singer Enrique Morente. Enrique Morente has that crazy distinctive haunting sound that sends shivers down my spine and gives me an out of body experience. I have long been a fan of his CDs. Despite his fame, he wasn’t afraid to experiment and collaborate with many non-flamenco musicians innovating new styles. The movie show cases the artist in the process of creation. Enrique is inspired by the artist Pablo Picasso and decides to turn Picasso’s writing and poetry into flamenco songs. Who knew that Picasso wrote as well as painted? … I certainly didn’t.
My favourite scenes in the movie is of Enrique Morente wandering about the Museum of Reina Sofia in Madrid and interacting with the Guernica – the most famous of Picasso’s painting documenting the horrors of war. We see a sensitive soul inspired, at times conflicted, at times yelling back at the painting. These scenes were made more potent by the fact that I had visited Reina Sofia a few years earlier and remembered the eerie feeling I got the first time I laid eyes on that painting. Earlier that same day, I had gone to the Parado museum where I saw Goya’s striking and realistic paintings of the horrors of war and later that day when I saw the Guernica I found myself wandering about the museum in a bit of a daze. Walking away trying to avoid looking and then feeling compelled to go back to look some more. The security guard stationed to look over the Guernica must have thought I was a mad woman as I paced back and forth, in and out of the room, at times calm and at different times in a manic state. Having come from Iraq, the theme of the painting was a too unsettling.
I found the movie to be a respectful depiction of an artist. There are no deep dark secrets of Morente’s life exposed , no delving into his past or childhood and no attempts whatsoever to psycho analyse him. What a relief? We see him working with different musicians trying to find the right sound, in the recording studio working hard, on stage performing and walking around the town with his famous singer daughter Estrella Morente. In one scene we hear him talking super affectionately about his wife, but that is as personal as it gets. The movie focuses on the artist letting the personal fade gently into the background. In a world that is obsessed with celebrity tabloid news, this movie bravely stays clear of any such non-sense. My second favourite scene in the movie is one where Enrique is performing on stage and the lead guitarist that is accompanying him looks in complete trance – in complete awe of the voice he is hearing. The facial expression on the guitarist’s face (whose name I don’t know), is what the movie is all about. Just wow! What a voice? What artistry? And what a respectful movie treatment of a flamenco legend?
Sadly Enrique Morente passed away only a few days after the movie was finished filming.
I am not sure the movie would appeal to the general public, but to anybody who is interested in flamenco, I think it is a must viewing.
I love the Vancouver Film Festival and find myself looking forwards to it every year. I have seen some of the best movies I have ever seen at this festival. There are some lousy and worthless movies in my memory bank of adventures with this film festival, but the chance to travel all around the world within three weeks is worth risking seeing the odd bad movie. The reprieve from the big block buster movies with predictable plots and saccharine dialogues is enough to stimulate this movie lover. Each year I buy the film festival catalogue and I read it cover to cover, taking delight in all the summaries of stories and ideas presented by the long list of movies. Then I sit down with a notepad and make a list of all the movies that are of interest to me. I always end up with a list of 20-30 movies that I wish to see. Then comes the painful part of witling the long list into a short list of about 6 t 7 movies that I will actually see. I find that seeing any more than that within a three week period reduces my enjoyment as all the plots and images become jumbled inside my mind. This year to my great delight I discovered that there are not one but two flamenco movies and both were placed at the top of my list right away.
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Awesome job over again! Thanks a lot.