Chavela

Born in Costa Rica and having lived most of her life in Mexico, singer Chavela Vargas was a pioneer on many respects. Born in 1919, she became famous in the 1950s but her career was interrupted and she was forgotten two decades later to the point that many people believed her to be dead. Her comeback around the age of 70 was one of the most remarkable in the history of music, so was her presence in the public awareness, both for her music and for attitude. The film Chavela co-directed by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi with the participation of Pedro Almodóvar is part of a spectacular comeback of an artist whose life is still surrounded by mysteries six years after her death.

Chavela Vargas was a very non-conventional woman and artist who built her career and lived much of her life in a conservative country. She sang the music of the Mexican cowboys ('rancheras') and dressed unconventionally. It was only very late in her life and career that she could go public as a lesbian, but her sexual orientation as well as the alcohol addiction were the principal causes of her fall of the grace of the public at the peak of her career, despite her success and popularity. Audiences simply believed that she is no longer alive, but to everybody's surprise (including probably her own) she had the courage and power to make one of the most sensational comebacks in the history of music, enjoying again success, and becoming an international celebrity. She was older than 80 years when she made her debut in places like Carnegie Hall or Olympia, and her music was a source of inspiration for several films of Pedro Almodóvar.

The documentary spends quite little time dealing with her early career, focusing or her fall and comeback. It is based mostly on her own interviews and on testimonies from her friends and colleagues. There is a lot of material about her private life, less about her music. As in many musical documentaries music presented on screen (with very appropriate English translation of the lyrics) speaks best about her art, but for me, knowing close to nothing about Mexican or Latin American music of the 20th century, I found that there is too little material or none about her musical innovations and why she was different and better than most of the other musicians of her generation. It's more a documentary about an exceptional life than about an exceptional musician.

It's already hard to live in Mexico as a woman. When I try to imagine how that would have been in the 20's-30's, I'm simply mesmerized she survived, and not only that: she fought back and lived the way she wanted, even in an extremely misogynistic country. I can see in that interview in the 90s, that she really loved herself. She stopped drinking, she came out of the closet as a lesbian at 80 years old, she loved her surroundings, friends and adventures. She was pure love, and at the same time a strong and powerful figure. Must have been a whole new experience to see her sing live, because when you hear her songs, you can actually feel the pain: in your chest, in your eyes, in your stomach, in your soul. Love you, Chavela. You're such an inspiration.

Chavela is probably someone I would have shied away from had I met her in real life...from the portrait painted of her in the film. Lucky me, I got to experience her from the safe distance of the screen at this Vancouver Film Festival viewing today, and I'm so glad I had that chance. This woman wasn't easy but she was strong, provocative and unique, and her complex character and passions challenge me to relax a little certain notions I have about people. That's a profound effect for a film, encouraging a more open mind. The audience was obviously with me in enjoying her emotional intensity, her contradictions and her commitment to expressive singing...leaving it all on the floor. It was a surprising to find my common-law husband not on the same page with me, at all. He says Chavela just didn't engage him.

Chavela Vargas was a great innovative artist, changing the way traditional genres such as bolero and ranchera were interpreted and perceived. She was a diva who brought an intense sentiment to her performances, putting her whole self into her work. Her approach to singing folklore was groundbreaking, bringing this music to a status of serious art.

But none of this is explored in this documentary... The focus is on the artist's sexual life and alcohol abuse, her difficult personality and her contradictions, none of which are explained nor put into context. Just yellow clickbait material.

What a wasted opportunity to tell the story of this amazing woman!

I had the honor of watching this documentary at the Minneapolis St Paul International film festival. It is a wonderful montage of interviews, images, songs and videos of an artist so human in her vulnerability and yet so celestial in the life that she lived that making an objectively and truthful documentary just seems like an impossible feat and yet Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi breaks all the complexity down for the viewer to capture the essence of this musical deity.

This documentary will leave a mark on you.