Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

ClassyWas Excellent, smart action film.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Lee Eisenberg In Wim Wenders's "Buena Vista Social Club", Ry Cooder goes to Cuba to bring some of the island's great musicians to the world's attention. Obviously the best part of the documentary is the music, but we also get to learn about the singers' lives. One of the neatest scenes is when the club goes to New York and performs in Carnegie Hall. During that sequence, Ibrahim Ferrer and Eliades Ochoa go to the top of a building and have a look at the city, and we even catch a shot of the World Trade Center*.But more than anything, it's great to hear this music. Ferrer, Ochoa, Compay Segundo, Omara Portuondo, and the rest show us that Cuba's culture will never die.*It will soon be the tenth anniversary of the attack.

Andres Cardenas More than a beautiful musical movie, I would classify this picture as a documentary. Who hasn't heard about Cuba's legendary Buenavista Social Club?? The story is nothing more than a recreation of the now aging stars of this club, back in the middle of the past century. Two main aspects can be judged here: The poverty of these in their native Cuban environment, and their joy of life that permits them to be happy even with all their limitations, and the contrasts they encounter while traveling to the USA for a presentation at the Carnegie Hall back in July 1998. It is a very shocking impact to see them go from their impoverished surroundings to the fascination of New York, where they now realize that this is where the other half of the world lives. The magic of the picture itself is brought to a sudden stop when one realizes that even in our 21st Century there can be so contrasting differences between human beings living in different parts of the world. Regardless of this sudden awakening to reality, the picture is beautiful and transports us back in time.

mstomaso It's hard to imagine a better set up for a magical documentary: Wim Wenders, Ry Cooder and a group of ancient and brilliant Cuban musicians. This film tells the story of the reassembling of the Buena Vista Social Club, as a sort of composite house-band including several popular Cuban jazz musicians, most of whom had given up their musical careers long ago. Ry Cooder helped get the players together, played with them, adding his respectfully subtle guitar work to the mix, and got their album released to popular and critical success worldwide.What I found most impressive about this film is the humility with which it was approached by Ry Cooder. Mr Cooder has done some great work in the world of music, and this must be counted among his triumphs. However, I would have to agree with Mr Cooder, that the credit for the magic of the Buena Vista Social Club was all in the chemistry and performance of its Cuban stars. To see what I mean by all of this, you should see the movie. Whether you buy the CD or see the movie first matters little. You should do BOTH.Wim Wenders also, intelligently and appropriately, lets this story tell itself. Only occasionally does his artistry (as potent as it is) flare up - such as the scenes with the pianist (who Wenders clearly adores, and understandably so). All in all, the American / German production team on this film takes a back seat to the music, and the stories behind the musicians. I found this a refreshingly honest documentary approach and I thoroughly enjoyed the film.My enjoyment rating is 10+. I gave the film an 9 because I am sure some will dislike either the music or the proactive approach toward Cuban/American relations. It's definitely not a film for all people. Don't watch it if Cuba brings up strong negative emotions for you.

bob the moo In a tribute to the spirit of Cuba and in reference to a dance hall that has long since gone, a group of elderly Cuban musicians to record an album together. Many of the musicians either left Cuba before Castro or were expelled or escaped once he took control. Each artist has a story to tell and they tell them while we follow the group perform a show and putting together their album, leading to the show at Carnegie Hall in New Yok on 1st July 1998.Although it is not something I listen to a lot, I do quite like the beat and the rhythm of music from Cuba – it has a certain style to it that is unique to that country and it is very easy to listen to or to dance to. For this reason I decided to watch this film although I also had hopes that it would be interesting as a documentary of sorts as well. In one regard the film really works and has plenty of great music performed live by a variety of artists, some of whom I had heard of but the majority I had not. It is very easy to listen to and would almost work as background music if you doing something else. This is punctuated with contributions from the artists who are filmed walking around Cuba or sitting in their homes talking about themselves.These bits tend to lack structure and are a bit lesser than I had hoped they would be. They were still interesting mainly because those involved seem to have a life experience behind them and are interesting just to listen to for a while. The problem for me was that, even as I was watching it, I felt that there were bigger stories behind them that would have acted well as a historical frame for the rest of the film and been for interest to the audience; although maybe the assumption was that anyone watching this film would already have a good working knowledge of Cuba. Despite that I didn't think that I had learned a great deal from the film even if I had been able to listen to a couple of the artists chatting and had been engaged by what they had been saying.Overall this is a cool film that is worth seeing for the music and the chance to listen to some very pleasant and rather inspiring elderly characters who all seem to have the spirit of 20 year olds in them. It may annoy some that the film never really steps behind the stories to provide a bit of a historical frame for the audience – it would have made it better for me if it had but it was still worth seeing nonetheless.