And, indeed, I will ask on my own account here, an idle question: which is better—cheap happiness or exalted sufferings? Well, which is better?---Fyodor Dostoevsky ---Notes from Underground There are certain people of whom it is difficult to say anything which will at once throw them into relief—in other words, describe them graphically in their typical characteristics. These are they who are generally known as “commonplace people,” and this class comprises, of course, the immense majority of mankind. Authors, as a rule, attempt to select and portray types rarely met with in their entirety, but these types are nevertheless more real than real life itself. For instance, when the whole essence of an ordinary person’s nature lies in his perpetual and unchangeable commonplaceness; and when in spite of all his endeavours to do something out of the common, this person ends, eventually, by remaining in his unbroken line of routine—. I think such an individual really does become a type of hi
Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
With a small film crew, Wim Wenders accompanied his old friend Ry Cooder, who had previously written the music for PARIS, TEXAS and END OF VIOLENCE, on a trip to Havana. Cooder wanted to record his material for Ibrahim Ferrer’s solo album at a studio there—following the first “Buena Vista Social Club” CD (which had not yet been released at that time). Wenders immersed himself in the world of Cuban music. Over the course of several months, he observed and accompanied the musicians—first at home in Havana and then, weeks later, in April 1998, on their trip to Amsterdam for the first public performance of the band (who had never played together outside a studio) and then, still later, in July 1998, to their triumphal concert in New York’s Carnegie Hall.
He followed the old heroes of the traditional Cuban Son music on their path from being completely forgotten to becoming world famous—within the period of just a few months. “I thought, I’ll shoot a documentary,” Wenders said, “and here we were, about to witness a fairy tale that no one could have imagined in this form.”
The music documentary became a cinematic sensation and an international success. Along with an Academy Award nomination for the best documentary film, BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB won this category of the European Film Awards, the German Film Prize in Gold, Germany’s Golden Camera and the Grand Prize for Film in Brazil as well as numerous other awards.
- Release date: June 4, 1999 (USA)Director: Wim WendersBox office: $23 millionProduced by: Ulrich Felsberg; Deepak Nayar
- Release date: June 4, 1999 (USA)Director: Wim WendersBox office: $23 millionProduced by: Ulrich Felsberg; Deepak Nayar
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Release date: September 16, 1997
Genres: Music of Cuba, World music, Son cubano, Music of Latin America, Bolero, Guajira, Danzón, Descarga, Criolla
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