5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good dvd to watch rodas, February 8, 2006
This review is from: Capoeira 100% Spectacular-D (DVD)
This DVD is in a PAL format which is more common is Western Europe and parts of north Africa. The DVDs in the U.S. are NTSC formatted. What this means is it may not play on your DVD. Older DVD players may not play PAL format but most new and inexpensive DVD players and computers (Mac or PC) with DVD players can. So check your DVD players guide before purchasing. If you have an old DVD player that does not play PAL and would like to enjoy these DVDs do yourself a favor and buy a new and inexpensive DVD player. I bought a phillip for $30 at Best Buy that plays these DVDs.
In my review I will assume that the person who is interested in what the video is about will already have some capoeira background on the names of some of the movements and other aspects of capoeira. My intent is not on teaching or explaining capoeira but to cover what is in this video.
`Capoeira 100% Spectacular' is a fun video on Capoeira to watch. This video is mainly of clips of different rodas of both regional and angola. It does show some clips of samba de rodas and maculelê. There are a few capoeira classes or schools that teach samba de roda and maculele as well because of the shared history for each of the art. For anyone who is interested or participates in capoeira will enjoy watching `100% Capoiera Spectacular.' This video is directed and produced by Christophe Diez who has made a four other videos on the topic of capoeira `Basic Techniques of Capoeira,' `100% Regional,' `100% Capoeira,' and `Rodas de Capoeira.'
The clips are of different rodas some on the street and others indoors in gymnasium that pan back and forth between the different rodas. However, the clips are not necessarily long about 20 seconds to a minute at the most. This keeps the pace moving a long. In my opinion having the clips panning all the time keeps the viewer's interest. The camera work is great. I have seen quiet a few of capoeira videos where it is on a tri pod, which doesn't follow the action if it moves out of range, or held by someone who doesn't know how to hold a camera or position the camera so the action is in balance. The camera work done on this DVD is done by someone who knows how to use the camera. The camera follows the action around the roda and keeps in balance, level, still and focus. What is also unique about this video is that there are several camera angles panning back and forth on the same roda. Again, having the camera angle switch back and forth provides more stimulation for the viewing pleasures on the same roda. The different angles can be from one side to the other or from ground level to looking down on the roda. While most of the players are advance it does show rodas with player at all levels but this does not take a way from the fun of this video. In fact I think it adds to it by showing what capoiera is an art for people at all levels with different strength and weakness.
This DVD does not have illustrations and instructions on how to do the basic movements of capoeira. It was not intended for that. If you want a step by step video on some of the movements to help review the movements learned in class watch `Basic Techniques of Capoeira' and or `100% Capoeira' both also by director Christophe Diez. However, the purpose of this video was to show clips of entertaining rodas and I think Christophe achieved that in this DVD because of the great camera work, the changing camera angles and the panning back and forth of different rodas. This DVD shows the music, the movement, and the martial art of capoeira. Anyone who is involved in capoeira and finds themselves trying to explain what capoeira is to a friend, who has never heard of the word capoeira, can now easily explain it to his/her friend by showing this DVD. For those of us that have tried to describe capoeira know that is a difficult thing to do.
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