HOMELY PLANET PIFF REPORT

FADOS

Portugal, 2007

Fados is a film which showcases a type of Portuguese music known as fado. The movie's title is the plural form of the word, and that's what we get -one song after another, in succession. There is no dialogue whatsoever, no documentary explanation. Instead we are given the music itself, along with some video projections and a troupe of dancers.

Fado is a musical form dating from the early 1800's. It has its roots in traditional Portuguese music, along with African influences. It can employ many different instruments and many combinations, though the one constant is the guitarra portuguese, a sort of large mandolin. Fado also features a singer - often a woman - and is sung forcefully, loaded with emotion. It's an amazing music - both heart-wrenchingly sad and vibrantly joyful, turning from minor to major within musical phrases.

The word fado literally means destiny or fate, and the themes of many of the songs deal with love, loss, and separation. The only film I could compare this to would be The Buena Vista Social Club, a movie which had a simliar musical effect on me. Both films expose the world to beautiful home grown music which is passionately performed by true artists. And both Cuban son and Portuguese fado mix Latin and African sounds to create a hybrid bursting with vitality.

If you like Fado music, you'll like the film. The film is a celebration of  fado and fadistas, those that play and sing it. I had heard different types of Portuguese music some years back, and it made a distinct impression on me. It was unlike any music I'd ever listened to, so when I saw that a whole film dedicated to it was playing at PIFF, I jumped at the chance for a ticket.

The film does get pretty "arty" at time. The modern dance interpretations of the songs border on art-school pretentiousness (I went to one so I know what I'm talking about.). Dance is often just ridiculous, and at times I found the choreography distracting me from the tunes. But if it got too bad, I could just close my eyes and let the music wash over me with its rich tones and sorrowful notes. There were several songs that left me breathless, that caused the hair to stand up on my neck, that made me want to sigh and drink cheap red wine and jump on the next plane to Lisbon. For much of the movie I was completely transported. Isn't that what cinema always ought to do?