The Wind Journeys

I expected to see a journey across Colombia's diverse geographical and cultural landscapes...and I was not disappointed. And as a second-language Spanish learner, I wanted to hear authentic Colombian Spanish...and I did. In fact, "The Wind Journeys" is a very well filmed journey across Colombia; I could see it winning an award for best cinematography. But the story about the current owner of the devil's accordion who, after the death of his wife vows to never play again, embarks on a journey to return the instrument to its rightful owner, including the ending, just didn't click for me.

Perhaps the times they are a changing, or maybe I've changed. I think in the 1980s, when I was 30 years younger, full of enthusiasm to travel the world and learn about exotic cultures, reading novels by García Márquez and more hopeful about life in general, I would have liked "The Wind Journeys" a lot more, or I would have just enjoyed watching it without caring if I bought the premise.

The premise of "The Wind Journeys" isn't as ridiculous as that of "Central Station" (another beautifully filmed and culturally-interesting story but which is based on a ludicrous premise). Yet even without the ongoing violence of the drug lords or the 40+ years of the ongoing FARC rebellion simmering in the background, the Colombia we see in "The Wind Journeys" is a violent, cruel, macho place where it's hard for me to have sympathy for anyone...because what good would that do? In spite of the great filming technique, this is not the Colombia of magical realism, this is the Colombia where a bit of hope swims hopelessly in a sea of hopelessness.

Mark Twain wrote that readers of romantic novels should love the good people, hate the bad people, and always be able to tell the two apart. I guess the two protagonists are the "good" guys in a world of "bad" guys, but I just didn't find myself caring deeply about their fates. Having said that, I would recommend this film for my hardcore Southamericanophile friends who want to see the wondrous and horrible beauty of Colombia. But I'm glad I didn't make my wife go with me to see this film at our local art-house theatre. In fact, I may go out and rent "La triste e increíble historia de la cándida Eréndira y su abuela desalmada" to cheer myself up, or maybe I'll put on my favorite Carlos Vives CD. Yeah, that's what I'll do.

Road-movie, coming-of-age tale…check and check, but do not be mislead by these general film genre titles and the formulaic tropes that they often carry. Ciro Guerra's award-winning feature debut is much more. (By the way he was 27 years old when he filmed it). In a small village in Colombia, Ignacio (Marciano Martinez), a troubadour, has just lost his wife. In grief and in somewhat of an existential panic Ignacio sets out on a journey to return his unique accordion, known as "The Devil's Accordion," to his master Guerra who bestowed it upon him. The legend of the accordion and the mystical aura surrounding the existence of Master Guerra gives the film a powerful mystical undertone. Ignacio, on mule, soon discovers he is not alone on his journey, but finds a zestful teenager Fermin (Nunez) in tow. The dynamics of their relationship is to be expected: optimism vs. pessimism, willing student vs. reluctant mentor, a young man's passion for life vs. an older man exhausted by life, yet these simple tropes never comes off as tired and overly predictable. The Wind Journeys has a poignant intellectual life, confidently mixing humor and sadness, the air of the ethereal with the coarse naturalness of everyday life.

The true artistic and intellectual revelations of the film come from its aural and visual explosions. As can be seen and heard in the final sequence, the wind carries the music and the music the wind, as both roar audibly intertwined over beautiful shots of various landscapes of Colombia. The music is what drives the characters from stop to stop along the journey. "I don't play the accordion, it plays me," as Ignacio tells his young companion. Guerra has created pure filmic poetry through the characters discovering, rediscovering and embracing various cultural sights and sounds: like the intense, beautiful scene with one tribe's drumming initiation ceremony, where if you pass the test on the drums the players' hands are covered in the blood of a lizard.

The cinematography is gorgeous and as the film progresses the crane shots overlooking the majestic pastoral landscapes and the quiet roaming shots of something as simple as the wind blowing the vibrant, tall green grass on a hillside functions in almost a Terrence Mallick sense. The camera-work only helps to heighten the spiritual and mystic undertones, which Guerra strikes a perfect balance with; not allowing the story or the visual scope to bend too far into the land of magic-realism. Everything Mr. Guerra does is balanced: emotional with mundane, mystic with the natural. The natural but existential quandaries of the characters and how they relate to one another and how they relate to the ebbs and flows of the overflowing cultural magnificence of the world in which they are passing through makes for truly refined and sublime filmmaking.

Even if You have NEVER visited COLOMBIA.... I am SURE You will ENJOY this AMAZING film! ....If You HAVE... You will really LOVE it!

Before diving in... FIRST... Let us FOCUS on the Title´s Content and Context:

Los VIAJES Del VIENTO/JOURNEYS Of The WIND is definitely an acquired taste. Embarrassingly... I must admit...My wife and I fell asleep the first time we saw it, being very tired, and probably missed over half the film. The vibrant music and some of the images kept on resonating in our brains! So...We decided to see it again. Lucky twist of fate, that! JOURNEYS Of The WIND (My title translation) took us places we had never been, showed us sights we had never seen and treated us to music we had never heard. One thing is for sure: Majagual, Colombia is about as far away from Hollywood as you could ever get!

28 year-old director Ciro Guerra's stated goal in making JOURNEYS: Share his spiritual communion connection with Vallenatos. (A style of Colombian music, the popularity of which has been growing exponentially outside its borders for three decades) With one brief, inconspicuous exception, there are literally no "Time-markers" in JOURNEYS!

Like music itself, this film is TIMELESS! A folkloric Faustian music video psycho-drama that should appeal to anyone who one Sunday morning might say "Today I feel like an art exhibit in the morning, an international music festival in the afternoon and an exotic foreign film at night!" JOURNEYS facilitates doing all three at once. Director Guerra purposefully uses each frame as a canvass.

Music in cinema is usually tailored to images as something of an afterthought. Here, it seems as if Guerra has molded his visuals to the music, with a startlingly refreshing and keenly aesthetic look. JOURNEYS, reflecting real life, does not spoon feed you anything. SH*T happens...You make of it what you may!

8.5********* (Perhaps 10* after our 3rd viewing!?!?!?)

ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

Any Comments, Questions or Observations... In ENGLISH... o en ESPAÑOL... are most Welacome!

Finally a film that plays that elusive music of soul that made one hooked to cinema in the first place.

This film maps the formative process of an artist from a spiritual perspective; the process of impregnating a forming soul with an experience so intense, complex and mystifying that the young soul will spend its entire lifetime trying to decipher its pain and meaning, and the only glimpses of its meaning will arrive through art, there is no other way.

This is a beautiful approach that emphasizes that a master's primary role is not in teaching the art or the skill to the apprentice, but to go a level deeper and impart in the apprentice the kind of experience that will automatically give birth to great art irrespective of the medium.

Contrast this film with Hollywood's treatment to the same theme, Walter Hill's Crossroads (1986), which superficially glosses over the experience part and ultimately succumbs to the glamorous but shallow pandering of the skill part.

In short: Incomprehensible quest. Same applies to the ending.

Nevertheless, the movie is entertaining throughout and never boring. It shows customs and traditions that may seem alien to us here (NL), but were never unrealistic.

The accordion is not my favorite musical instrument, but that did not hinder me in appreciating the scenes and how they develop in time.

I must admire the younger main character for the trouble he takes to attempt rescuing his older counterpart in the movie. His undertakings seem unreal, and are certainly asking for trouble.

From half way the movie I was definitely missing the logic in the storyline, and was surprised how the story ends too.