Product Details

• Language: Spanish
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002UV3OVO
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #309,993 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars See? Weird Al isn't the only one who plays these things!, July 6, 2010

By 

Chris Swanson "I'm just this guy, you know?" (Phoenix) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: WIND JOURNEYS (DVD)

(special thanks to Film Movement for providin me with a screener!)

I live in Arizona and before that lived in Palm Springs, CA. Prior to that I lived in Seattle, but that doesn't matter to this discussion. It was while living in Palm Springs that I began to learn how important the accordion is in Mexican music. This is apparently due to a large number of German settlers who ended up in Northern Mexico and brought their music with them. What I hadn't known until seeing this movie was how big accordions apparently are even in places farther south than Mexico, like Colombia, the setting of this latest movie from Film Movement.

This isn't the Colombia you're used to seeing in TV and movies. It's not the Colombia of drug lords or revolutionaries. No, it's the Colombia of people living in small towns, eking out a meager existence and enjoying some very interesting music.

The movie tells the story of Ignacio, a renowned accordion player, who leaves on a mission to return a horned accordion (don't ask), to its rightful owner. Tagging along is a teenage boy who wants to learn how to play the accordion so that he can impress a girl back home. Why Ignacio didn't just send the thing via UPS is beyond me, but I guess if he had, we wouldn't have had a story.

To a great extent this film reminds me of a martial arts movie, or a Western. You have the old master and the young, would-be apprentice traveling along together on a Mission of Great Importance. Except in Spanish. With accordions.

There's a great many fascinating elements to this movie. I particularly liked a scene where there's an accordion duel that was not entirely unlike the rap duels featured in "8 Mile". Except in Spanish. With accordions. I also really loved the scenery, which showed Colombia as having a far more diverse environment than I'd expected.

This was a very entertaining, if not perfect, movie. It does drag a bit in the first and third acts, but otherwise is full-on. Besides, where else will you see an accordion duel?

=== Short Subject ===

This month's short subject is a film called "Danzak" from Peru. It centers around a ten-year-old girl whose father is dying. He's a dancer who uses a device not unlike scissors in his dancing. He asks his daughter to round up some people so that he can have one last dance, while her mother runs around doing everything she can to get him medicine so that he can live just a little longer.

This was a really great short film. I'd never heard of this kind of dancing and found it to be really interesting, plus it was cool hearing a language, Quechua, that I've not heard before. It's a good compliment to the main feature and a decent stand-alone piece.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Colombia's panoramic unknown and unique landscapes!, July 19, 2010

By 

Rizzo (Nowhere) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: WIND JOURNEYS (DVD)

Never in foreign film have I seen such varying and beautiful cultural landscapes as this one, in Colombia. According to the director, the film took 4 years to make and covers 84 shooting locations that took mules and 4x4s to reach. And, Director Ciro Guerra has also said that people in Colombia didn't even know their country looked like this.

The 2 hour film focuses on the sweeping panoramic landscapes, the many varieties of landscapes, something different appears constantly throughout the film. It is about the characters and their deep sense of culture, beliefs and tradition. It is about verbal/musical sparring and challenges to claim the spot of best accordianist; percussionist who are good enough to become baptized with the blood of a lizard; and a violent sword fight between two while the accordionist plays on. And, of course it is about the music, the accordion.

An old man and well-known troubadour Ignacio Carillo, whose wife has just died has come to grips that he needs to return his accordion back to the person he got it from, being that the accordion is cursed. He takes a mule for the treks that will also be on foot, and by canoe crossing water.

We don't learn much about his beliefs that the accordion is the devil and cursed. He just seems adamant that it must go back. A young teen, Fermin, has been encouraged by his mother to follow the man, to learn the accordion from the man. The relationship is not completely a "togetherness", as young Fermin is discouraged by Ignacio from joining and following in his footsteps.

Together, they encounter events where prize money is offered to play, as the journey leads to self-discover and different paths. The journey is a long distance and although the film moves slowly, it is wonderful to absorb the culture and the life of musical troubadours, the music from Colombia, and to explore a side of the world I didn't know existed. The cinematography is superb and continuously surprising. The 2009 award winning film takes place circa late 60s. It is distributed by FILM MOVEMENT Award-Winning Films and provides first run, independent and foreign films from the top festivals-Sundance, Cannes, Toronto; Good directing and Good scripts ...Rizzo

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Colombian Film, November 10, 2010

By 

Mithridates VI of Pontus (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Wind Journeys (DVD)

On strong recommendation from my sister I finally got around to seeing this unusual Colombian film. I have to admit, I know very little about Spanish language cinema (especially from the Americas). Regardless, I found The Wind Journeys a fascinating experience -- one I suspect I would have appreciated even more if I knew the cultural background to the gorgeous tableux unfolding so majestically before my eyes. The cinematography, gorgeous scenery, moving music, and the slight surrealist (perhaps too strong of a word) edge merits finding this film!

Brief Plot Summary (limited spoilers)

Ignacio Carrillo, a Colombian folk singer, decides to give up his accordion and return it to his teacher. His accordion, decked out with devilish horns, is supposedly cursed -- taking over whoever plays it.

As he departs his small town, Fermin, a teenage boy who wishes to learn how to play the accordion (I can't precisely figure out Fermin's motivation), sets off after him. The relationship between the two characters is the emotional center of the film and by far the most interesting plot related element. They set off across the visually arresting geography of Colombia (absolutely gorgeous) meeting unusual people -- engaging in accordion "duels". In one of the most memorable scenes involves Ignacio reluctantly playing his accordion for two men settling their scores on a bridge by hacking at each other with machetes... The cinematography is SUPERB throughout heightening the power of these unusual sequences.

Ignacio is extraordinarily reluctant to play his cursed instrument. Likewise, he is reluctant to teach Fermin (perhaps in order to prevent him from turning into the gruff man old man he has become). The last sequence of the film further complicates the relationship between the two main characters and is ultimately somewhat ambiguous. The plot is definitely not the fulcrum of the experience. Revel in the feel of this timelessly world... Revel in the artistry of every image....

Final Thoughts

I must admit, I finished somewhat unsatisfied by the experience. Perhaps because I am at loss regarding the cultural aspects of the film. Perhaps because I was so enraptured by the beauty of every image I concentrated more on what I saw on the surface than prying deeper -- but I feel somewhat adrift and unable to do so.

Yes, the basic elements we are so familier with are here: the young boy, the gruff yet wise old man, the sage on the mountain top (an accordion repair man), a quest, every changing scenery, unusual duels and tests of "manliness" (whatever form that might take). At its most superficial the film is approachable. But I am lacking the knowledge to see the slight manipulations (cultural perhaps) of the archetype. I want to know more... The experience was worthwhile... At the moment, it was only an experience -- the vague elicited emotions, and visual resonances are there, but the words are lacking.

Recommended -- on rather ambiguous grounds.