Search - Latino America: Su Arte Y Su Cultura on DVD

DVD (71 minutes) + CD (14 tracks)

lynn98109 | Seattle, WA USA | 01/21/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The DVD has 3 sections:



(1)Music (shows instruments) and dance (ranges from Mexico thru Central America & South America) - 24 minutes - has some interesting info, but basicly all you see is the colorful dresses and a few dance movements.



(2) Writers & poets (23 minutes) - 11 writers in various countries, shows talking heads for most, but a couple have other video with the voice in the background. A Cuban poet recites a poem while shots of Cuba are shown.



(3) Craftsmen (Artesanias) (24 minutes) - ceramics, woodwork, weaving, leatherwork, gold & silversmithing. Unfortunately, it sounds as if they have found the only place where a given craft is done. However, there is woodworking, weaving, and leatherwork in northern Ecuador, as well as miniature-making in Calderon, near Quito (using bread dough, not clay), and gold & silversmithing near Cuenca. I'm sure there are many additional instances of such craftwork thruout Latin America.



The CD has 14 tracks by name groups (Los Kjarkas, Savia Andina, Rupay, Mallku, etc) - some I don't recognize but sound like there are from other than the Andes, which is what I know best.



I give it two stars because

(1)the dancing does little more than identify which city/country it is in, and, uh, the cameraman isn't very politically correct in some of what he choose to shoot.

(2) my interst in "literature" is zilch, and the track on Jorge Amado is R-rated (my rating)

(3) not enough information is given on the craftwork

(4) I don't care that much for most of the music, which is arranged for stage presentation, it's like a painting of food rather than something nutritious. (my rating)"