Salsa

When I began to watch it I had a little doubt in my mind since the last supposed salsa movie didn't contain much salsa. But all my doubts was blown away after the three first minutes!! This movie has really captured the essence of what salsa is to me, a burning for the music! The dancing isn't incredible, there is a lot of nice moves, but nothing that really gets you going. But when Remi plays the piano, you just want to be there with him and sing and dance! I have actually started practicing playing salsa on the piano just because of this movie! If you've lost your glow, your inspiration, watch this movie, it may inspire you like it inspired me.

Cuban emigrants are now everywhere in the world, and not all live in US. These emigrants have been able to spread Cuban music successfully in several European countries as Spain, Italy and France. Classes for learning dancing salsa are now a good business in these countries. The present film shows to what extent this music is accepted by local people and how contagious it is. The plot is about a young guy, pianist from Toulousse, who felt in love with another French young lady and good dancer of salsa. He saw that Nathalie only likes Cuban people and its music, so for this reason he decided to present himself as a Cuban young man under the name of Mongo. At the end everything was obviously discovered, Nathalie knew that he was as French as her, and she finally accepted him as he was. The film had the participation of some Cuban artists, among them Alexis Valdes already based in Spain, who showed how to dance good salsa, and Aurora Basnuevo, who is still working for radio and TV in Cuba. Here she played the role of Cuban Yoruba Santera. Cuban nostalgia is well noted in the film, in one scene Valdes told Mongo that Cubans'smile and laugh are good to hide their pain behind it. If you like good music you must see this film, here it is mainly coming from the Cuban group Sierra Maestra.

Lame plot and two-dimensional script made characters look like cardboard cut-outs. Needless to say, this made it difficult to feel empathy for any of the characters, especially the fiancé; He looked and acted more like a cartoon. In summary, I guess you could say it was on par with your typical made for TV drama. It uses just about every cliché in the book. The tortured classical musician who wants to break-out and play salsa. The free-spirited fiancée engaged to a "bean counter" personality she doesn't love. I won't list them or else it would be a spoiler because I'd be giving away the whole plot. The dancing was OK but nothing special. I've seen worse. 3 stars for good music. The band was really tight. I saw it on YouTube. Thankfully I didn't pay good money to see it at a theater. I'm still a little shocked at how many great reviews this movie has garnished.

"Salsa (2000)" gives you what it was designed for and what you should expect: Good music, good dancing and good fun.

It is not a pretentious movie at all. The story is simple but not obvious and also contains some interesting moments and twists. The acting is good and the music excellent (Yuri Buenaventura, Sierra Maestra, Ruben Gonzales). The dancing parts are not outstanding but certainly very enjoyable.

It's also a very cheerful and energising movie so it's perfect before going dancing.

Note that this "Salsa (2000)" is much better than "Salsa (1988)", which is boring, predictable and serious ; with some good dance sequences though.

By the way don't miss the delightful "A paradise under the stars" ("Un paraiso bajo las estrellas", CUBA 2000)

"Sala" is an excellent film!!! You must see it. It makes you feel so good. The music is great, the dance is greater! I recommend you to see it!!! All you need is salsa - the emotional, passionate and dynamic dance of Cuba!