Watching “Violeta Went to Heaven” screening this year at the Santa Fe Film Festival, at times I wanted to stop watching—at others I wished the movie would go on and on. The film is deep, complicated and not at all conventional, just as the life of Violeta Parra was. Great Chilean singer, songwriter, visual artist, among many other things, Parra gained the recognition she deserved only after her life was over.
A masterful combination of great direction by Andrés Wood with a very well written screenplay by Eliseo Altunaga, as well as exceptional acting by Francisca Gavilán, results in an incredible portrait of the Chilean culture and folklore, of their people and most of all of the extraordinary singer herself.
The film is about Violeta’s music, and her life—but most of all about her constant struggle against social injustices, and sometimes against her own self. She was always torn between the extremes of life.
I don’t know if it is because I know the work of this artist and her music touches me deep in my heart, or because the movie brought me closer to a person I had read so much about and learned to admire, but I must admit that Andrés Wood was able to make a touching film that manages to bring us very close to Victoria Parra and all the many things she represented. Andrés introduces us to her world and builds in us the desire to learn more.
As the movie advanced I was waiting with great expectation to hear her most renowned song: “Gracias a la Vida” (Thanks to Life). It was only when the credits appeared on the black screen that the song was heard. Perhaps saving this until the end was the recognition of the pinnacle of her career, and an end note for us to remember her by.
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Read the Spanish version of this review here.
“Violeta Went to Heaven” runs 110 minutes. It will be shown Friday December 8th @ 2:15 pm – 4:05 pm at the Screen.
More information and complete program and schedule, please visit the Santa Fe Film Festival website. To purchase tickets, visit TicketsSantaFe.org.
