Product Details

• Actors: Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascinmento
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Shanachie
• VHS Release Date: July 20, 1998
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301686799
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #438,316 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Despite a cover that promises a wild ride through Carnival in Brazil and performances by Gilberto Gil and Milton Nascimento (whose name is misspelled on the DVD cover), this is really a rather one-sided political documentary about the poverty-stricken lifestyle of black Brazilians and the ways their pure music, samba, has been corrupted and co-opted by the music establishment of Brazil. If you're looking for lengthy interviews with people complaining about conditions (and don't care that this was shot in 1982), then this is the DVD for you. If, on the other hand, you want insight into Brazilian music and musicians or Carnival, you'll come away from this documentary feeling distinctly frustrated. Despite an incessant and infectious samba beat, there aren't nearly enough complete musical performances to satisfying either the seeker or the veteran lover of Brazilian popular music. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very informative but also very outdated., September 7, 1999

By 

elisa llamas (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spirit of Samba [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The only good thing about this video is the information it brings to the viewer. It talks about anything about the Brazilian culture that has to do with the music itself. However, the one thing that was very disapointing to me was the fact that this video was very outdated. It seems to have been made in the late 70's. As some of you know samba has changed quite a bit since then with the influence of rap and hip hop. Don't expect any modern images of Brazil or of samba musicians from this movie. I do not think this video is ideal if you want to use it in the classroom. But, then again considering that there are not that many documentaries about this music form, this video contains a wealth of information for those who want to learn more about samba.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Brazilian bacchanalia vs. joyless European Marxism, March 20, 2003

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Beats of the Heart - The Spirit of Samba: Black Music of Brazil (DVD)

The key to understanding this tendentious hour-long documentary film is in its subtitle, and the dogmatic assertion that samba is a "black" music that has somehow been appropriated and exploited by Brazil's "white" population. Although the film has some good material, including sit-down interviews with Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento, Chico Buarque and Leci Brandao, the thrill of seeing them all in action is severely undercut by the grinding, joyless narration, as French director Jeremy Marre intones gravely about how samba is the music of the poor and exploited black underclass, etc. etc. etc. He cuts away from scenes of street parties and MPB concerts to military parades held by the dictatorship that was still in power when the film was made (albeit in its waning days; the military relinquished control of the country in 1985) and makes the seemingly contradictory assertions that Brazil's vast Carnival celebrations are merely a bread-and-circuses sop, a pointless bacchanal designed to placate the nation's poor, and, simultaneously, that samba has been stolen from the masses, and that they can no longer hear their own music. Second-string MPB star Luiz Melodia is shown singing a sexually suggestive song with a female co-star, as Marre instructs us that his music has been ruined by the influence of non-Brazilian pop, and that his songs "have no meaning." There are elements of truth to Marre's argument, but on the whole, he seems to be pounding static, lifeless square pegs into round, rhythmic holes. Marre's dogmatic political presentation betrays a startling ignorance (or willful disregard for) the dense complexities of Brazil's interracial, multilayered, ceaselessly fluid and profoundly syncretic centuries-long cultural heritage. Samba, which came into existence towards the end of the 19th Century, was one in a long line of admixtures of African, Amazonian and European influences -- it didn't come fully formed fresh off the boat from West Africa, as the film seems to suggest. And historically, it is a national music, not only enjoyed by all, but actually one of the key elements uniting this far-flung country. This same point is made constantly by the film's own footage: every time Marre sets out to show us some "exploitative" situation in which a poor samba artist is forced to play their music for a "white" audience, the crowd we see is invariably and emblematically of mixed race, and they generally seem to be having a pretty good time together. Try as he might to stack the deck, the director keeps running up against the contradictory nuances of Brazil's confoundingly multi-textured society. This film is worth checking out for a glimpse at the samba culture, but its message has to be taken with a grain of salt.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent slice of Brazilian history and Modern life, July 17, 2005

By 

Igor Polk (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beats of the Heart - The Spirit of Samba: Black Music of Brazil (DVD)

An excellent documentary. A diverce mosaic collecting a complex image of Brazilian society. Watched with the great interest. There is just enough of good music and dancing of all sorts. Interesting, that the more prominent the performers are, the less interesting their music and dancing is. I am dancing samba and I am interested in hystory of humanity. The film answered a lot of my questions not just about samba and Brazil, but about the course of our civilization development overall. Thank you, Igor Polk.