Buena Vista Social Club is an award winning documentary that brought a certain style of Cuban music to a wider audience outside Cuba. Musicians some of them who had not performed for some years saw their career surge again.All because musician Ry Cooder worked with some local musicians in Cuba and this documentary directed by Wim Wenders shot on video cross cuts interviews with some of the performers, concerts given in Amsterdam and New York as well as the recording of a solo album by Ibrahim Ferrer.Ferrer is the shining star here. He was called the Cuban 'Nat King Cole,' he is reflective when he talks and dazzling when he performs.Others who feature is a pianist named Ruben Gonzalez, 80 years old at the time, classically trained and had not played for years due to arthritis but plays piano with boundless energy. Compay Segundo, a guitarist and singer, Omara Portuondo who accompanies Ferrer on some of the songs.I was taken aback that this film was shot in brightly lit video, some of the footage looked too plain like it was meant to be a television documentary. Some times you just want to hear the songs rather than it being interrupted and I think we could had done without the musicians looking at tacky souvenir shops and admiring life in the USA.

In 1996, Ry Cooder and others assembled forgotten veteran Cuban musicians to form the Buena Vista Social Club. The original Club has long since gone. This movie has their recent performances. Individuals are interviewed about their struggles during tough times and their music.This is a time capsule in more than one way. It recalls the time when Cuba is starting to reach America. It's the hesitant start of a political thaw. The music itself is a throwback to an earlier time period. The musicians' stories are another throwback to another era. It can get repetitive as each musician gets his own section. The music is great. It's touching and funny when the men visit NYC for the first time. That is yet another time capsule as they look out onto the twin towers. This is a fine documentary.

This is my first post-WINGS OF DESIRE Wenders movie, and despite all the hype around it at the time, my first experience with the music of the Buena Vista Social Club. The music itself is fantastic, featuring memorable and rich songs with accomplished musicianship and great passion. It was a pleasure to spend time with the players and learn a little bit (unfortunately, not a whole lot) about their lives and careers. However, the cinematography is simply awful. Undoubtedly there are limitations involved with filming in Cuba, but the use of early digital video cameras gives the movie a cheap, amateurish, washed-out look. It's very unpleasant to behold, especially with the shaky camera-work. It feels like it was all done rather haphazardly with little thought. You're probably better off just buying the CD.

Most people don't seem to have seen the movie from the very beginning. Cooder and Wenders were in Cuba to film with some Japanese Musicans who had problems with their visas or whatever and didn't make it in time, so they just went to look for some local musicians in order not to waste their time in Cuba. The revelation and worldwide success of these oldtimers was by pure chance and not by design. In my eyes that makes it more 'documentary' than any preconceived plans that other such movies had. They called off the artists from whatever jobs or duties they were doing at that exact time. Ibrahim Ferrer for example was shining shoes at that time and didn't even get the time to shower before they recorded the album.Give the guys a break!