 |
|
Plot Synopsis: As a hall fills with performers, a narrator says that flamenco came from Andalucia,
a mix of Greek psalms, Mozarabic dirges, Castillian ballads, Jewish laments, Gregorian chants, African rhythms,
and Iranian and Romany melodies. The film presents thirteen rhythms of flamenco, each with song, guitar,
and dance: the up-tempo bularías, a brooding farruca, an anguished martinete, and a satiric fandango de huelva. There are tangos, a taranta, alegrías, siguiriyas, soleás, a guajira of patrician women, a petenera about a sentence to death, villancicos, and a final rumba. Families present numbers, both festive and fierce. The camera and the other performers are the only audience.
From the Back Cover:
Exploring the sensuous delights and dark mysteries of life by uniting music , song, and dance, "Flamenco" is one of the purest and most stunning performance films ever made.
With an exceptional history that reaches back nearly five hundred years, the magnificent art of Flamenco has long been an integral part of the Spanish heart and culture. Joining three hundred of the world's greatest Flamenco performers with master cinematographer Vittorio Storaro ("Apocalypse Now," "The Last Emperor"), director Carlos Saura has magnificently transferred the beauty and power of Flamenco to the screen. The result is an unbroken series of electrifying numbers that range in emotion from heartbreak to elation and that shimmer with sexual energy while reaching a thrilling level of virtuosity.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
