The sensuality and stylized ritual of the tango are captured in this illuminating documentary. Director Jorge Zanada spent years researching and recording the tango's place in Argentine culture and exploring the machismo that drives the dance. Most rive

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Duvall's portion, a very small portion, merely relates his reasons for visiting Argentina, to learn Tango at it's cradle of inception. The interview is obviously in a hotel room, where he speaks compactly about his love and interest in Tango. He "plays" no part. He does not dance.

This video is no more than an amazing documentary and cultural commentary on the "Milonga" style of Tango; it's past, it's future and simply dazzling performances of now aging non-professional stars of Tango, who are passing the torch of this cultural heritage of Buenos Aires on to another generation. There is an inate sadness in the interviews of the older "Asfalto" Milongueros, the dancers, who see this dance form slipping into disuse, in favor of the European and American style; something that the, the old timers, cannot relate to. Backed by excellent music and stunning exhibitions by "Portenos", this film is a "keeper", to be played over and over again, for it's dance, it's music, it's form and the shear enjoyment of Tango.

26 of 26 found the following review helpful:

Real TangoAug 25, 1999
By fana01@doc.mssm.edu
Somewhat overwrought in its politics, but this film does put tango in its cultural context. This film shows ordinary people dancing the tango and talking about the dance they love. It contrast the real tango in Buenos Aires and the acrobatic tango you see in shows. This film is insightful and passionate and beautiful and sad, much like the tango itself.

8 of 8 found the following review helpful:

docu with real tangoOct 20, 2001

Finaly a documentry with real danced Argentine tango with normal people, realy improvising on the music. Not everything I like in this video, there is a part with Ballroom tango and a choreographed dance (orgenised by an american program for latino's) that misses the point, but I like realy the end, a ballet , but it is beatifully danced in real Tango stile, that means heavy, down to the ground.

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:

An insight into the resurrection of tango in ArgentinaDec 08, 2010
By Jim
This was filmed in 1988 in a period when Argentine tango was in the infancy of its comeback. Most recent documentaries of tango tell its history from the perspective of the immigrants to Bs. As. and the references to the brothels. This one however has less on that part of the history and more about the period of the "lost generation" characterized by the draw of other musical/dance forms and the period in which tango was forbidden in Argentine for political reasons. Most documenatries ignore the political period with its arrests. Throughout the narrator as the dance asks "Who or what is tango."

The strengths of this DVD include that part of the history, the interview with Robert Duvall in which he elaborates on what drew him to the dance and a wonderful milonga. Stage shows like to present male dancers as guapos, but this elimates the flashiness. I enjoyed the inclusion of the interviews of Juan Carlos Copes and the music of Daniel Binelli. Copes relates his conversations about the Russian dance style and the discovery of Julio Bocca.

The film has the feel of the rediscovery of a lost family connection.

5 of 24 found the following review helpful:

One of Duvall's greatest films.Jun 27, 1999

As a tango instructor at an Arthur Murray studio in East Islip, New Jersey, Duvall commands the viewer's attention with his cynical, jaded, bored, and slightly inebriated portrayal. Ripping off infatuated elderly ladies who only want to be young again so they can dance with him, Duvall's conscience never begins to get the better of him. Then a new instructor is hired - a younger, more attractive Mason Williams. Watch the fireworks and fancy footwork as these two gigolos compete ruthlessly for the attentions of their elderly clientele. You must see this one!