Reviews

Using lots of staged episodes with a certain pathos certainly not fitting what the band BAP is about or the fans (who don't get into the picute at all) love in it, the comparedly few concert clips are not very well shot nor give a good sound. What Wenders was trying to achieve with this film remains unclear. The only interesting, but far too short, interesting episode is a TV-clipping from a discussion Niedecken (the bandleader) had with Heinrich Boell. But having seen this film with a Russian colleague at the Berlin film festival, I noticed, that by far not everyone knows Boell's face...

Showing us these lively women from all walks of life, we don't only get to find out more details about how infamous Apartheid worked, but also, how these women still managed to live their lives, forced to fight to a higher or lesser degree. Documentary as it should be!

After a stunning opening scene, a spectacular concert in Amsterdam, the film goes on to Cuba to look for its heroes - this part is not very well done and sort of lengthy. The interviews, introducing the musicians are sort of okay, but lack empathy. It remains completely unclear, what Ry Cooder and his son are doing in this film at all and why they get so much space. The further, the worse: the heroes travel to New York to do a concert in Carnegie Hall. Prior to the concert we see disoriented old men stumbling thru New York, followed by the complete antithesis to the opening sequence: lighting, sound, hte guys themselves - everything contradicts the performance in Amsterdam. We're being told: don't care about these guys, they're about to just drop dead - that's not a way to treat your heroes, Mr. Wenders.

The exposition gives us a very clear, cold-war frame, then goes on slowing its way thru the story - a clear failure of either the screenplay or the directing. In the end, unfortunately, wasted energy of brilliant actors Catherine Deneuve and Oleg Menshikov.