Violeta se Fue a Los Cielos

The original movie poster.

Today, I'll switch from the usual exploitation cult movie to a much deeper film, that is strongly related with my home country: Chile. And as soon it'llbe my birthday I chose to look for a rather emotional film to review this week instead of the lead kind of films I review very often. Violeta se Fue a los Cielos,or Violeta Went to heaven in English, but more accurately I would translate it simply as Violeta Passed Away; it makes more sense according to the English language context & meaning, anyways, it's a chilean movie about the not only most reknown folk musician there has ever been in Chile but also about one of the most important latin american folk musicians there has ever been. Period. For the unaware audiences Violeta Parra spent her entire life trying to fulfill one goal: to keep the chilean folklore music & traditions alive through a vast documentation made by herself alone in many trips from northern to southern Chile. She was looking forward to record as many folklore songs as she could, so that  everyone in the country had a chance to listen to the original folklore music carved in forgotten small towns and eldest family traditions. 

One thing you have to keep in mind is that this film looks and feels better for those aware of Violeta Parra's life. Seeing it not knowing a damn thing about her life may give the wrong impression of a movie that seems to be composed of several pieces that do not make sense most of the times. In case you feel like watching the movie, but don't have a clue about who Violeta Parra you can start your bookworm research right here. 

Francisca Gavilan is Violeta Parra.

The book in which the movie is based.

Now let's get down to business and discuss the movie. Violeta se Fue a los Cielos, was released this year in September (due to the national chilean day being commemorated in September) and directed  by chilean reknowned film maker Andrés Wood (the guy behind Machuca & Gringuito, two of the most popular & succesful chilean films abroad) He's best known for filming movies that deal with key elements to Chilean culture, for instance Machuca was about the 1973 coup d'etat while Gringuito was about the way our country relates to foreign people. Now his latest effort takes us back to the 49 years Violeta Parra lived in our world. She commited suicide in 1967 when she was 49. Andrés Wood effort is close enough as to pay good and respectful homage to Violeta Parra's legacy. He based his movie in the Violeta se Fue a los Cielos book, written by Angel Parra (Violeta's son) However, we can't expect to have a movie that depicts every single chapter written in the book, that's just too much to ask for in a movie that runs an hour and fourty minutes. 

The story starts with Violeta's early childhood, where we see her father teaching, playing some music and dying, inherting Violeta his guitar. So begins the legend. A long trip through Chile documenting the hidden folklore with her notebooks and instruments. A trip that would lead her into Europe to promote her music, the chilean music & her talent as a plastic artist, a painter, a weaver and mostly a woman who lived too much in a single life. Another good element is the poverty in wich she was raised, but that's quite a simple thing to do, so you don't need to be a great film maker to do so.

An Emotive scene.

The Artist.

She actually plays the guitar & sing.

The problem I had with the movie is that it exploits mostly her darker side, her issues with love, society and everything in between. We see too little about her music, her paintings and mostly her entire art and that is wrong, cause she was who se was because of her art, something the idiotic hipster film maker wasn't quite able to understand. However there are some good elements that do depict her humble character, her nature born talent when composing new songs, her strong obsession with love and some hints about her social say in those days Chile.

The movie didn't do justice for Violeta's legacy. a Pity.

Violeta's surviving family members had mixed opinions, and so did I. The movie is quite unfair to Violeta Parra's life, she wasn't a suicidal freak, she didn't act randomly as a weirdo, she wasn't a monster, she was more human than many people around the globe. I thank my parents for raising me listening to her music, she's definitely the greatest chilean artist of all times. Period.

Here's the movie trailer:

Overall a fair movie, neither a good movie, nor a bad movie, just average stuff. International markets won't buy it, it is just too chilean to be understood by everyone. The most interesting element though, is the great lead role by Francisca Gavilán. Thumbs up to her! The film is just a standard famous artist  biography, uncomplete, overblown and clichéd. The actress sings, but certainly can't play the guitar and that's a fail moment of the film! you can't be listening to a guitar riff and arpeggio while she's playing a fake chord! you just can't! The movie is a mirror version of Gus Van Sant's Last Days, where we find ourselves with an insane Kurt Cobain that is barely comprehensible for audiences, both aware & unaware.