The music is phenomenal, and the story is great, but this film is too badly made for me to really enjoy it. It takes way to long introducing characters and only gets into the plot in the last 20 minutes. It's just very bad at telling a good story.

In the Wim Wenders documentary Buena Vista Social Club, American guitar virtuoso Ry Cooder travels to Havana with the intent of gathering Cuba’s most renowned musicians, most of them elderly and many of them forgotten, to create an album to showcase the country’s rich cultural heritage. Interspersed with live concert footage from Amsterdam and New York, the musicians briefly tell their life stories, most of which are remarkably inspiring, emphasizing the fact that they play for the love of their art, not for fame or fortune. Granted, those who don’t enjoy Cuban music may find the concert footage tedious at times, but the interviews and the glimpses into Cuban culture are consistently compelling.

unfortunately I missed tonight's show! for some reason I missed the date - I first saw the ad that said "Tuesday August 24" which was perfect for us. I never even looked at the date after that! I feel horrible that We missed it. I have their CD from long ago - before we visited Cuba1 Can I get a refund for my 2 tickets

Haven't seen it in 20 years but it was good and the music is great

The best documentary movie ever made!

The Buena Vista Social Club is a charming musical documentary with great music and little slices of life from Cuba.

(Int. Glass Corridor Surrounded By Garden) Urainia: (walks briskly) No Pol Pot, and certainly no Castro. No communist philosophy. Apasmara: You saw what happened when I tried to bring your ideas to light. Urainia: No, I witnessed a grand scale abuse of power once your ego had ultimate power. The ideas of shared wealth are good ideas, your ego simply turned them upside down. Apasmara: What would you do? Urainia: Your dwarf ego is embedded in each child and this is little death. If they pursue their ego, which is their own little death, they will find their Father, end of story. Apasmara: But, what you're suggesting is communism. Urainia: Really. Am I suggesting Cuba? Shall we go over His Story? Apasmara: Ugh... Urainia: His Story of Cuba is that their elite were scared out once Castro came into power. Castro's idea of Communism was to break into people's homes and count common household items like toothpaste to make sure they weren't taking too much. Apasmara: So, we don't do that. Urainia: (stops) Jesus Christ, No! Stop dying for your own sins! (presses nose to glass wall and looks at beautiful garden outside) Where did a huge majority of the those rich Cubans escape to? Apasmara: Rich Cubans? Urainia: The intellectual elite. They didn't stay in crumbling Cuba. No, they escaped to US. But were they the intellectual elite here? Apasmara: (pushes nose to glass and looks at garden) No. Urainia: No. Because we have a dwarf ego in charge of US as well. So when these well-educated Cubans came to US, they were lowly immigrants and assigned jobs at the factories, even though they had been Doctors and Lawyers in Cuba. Apasmara: At least they had jobs, I guess. Urainia: Jobs in which state, though? Apasmara: (sighs) Florida. Urainia: Yes, Florida. Florida has a huge immigrant population. And how does Florida tend to vote on matters of immigration? Apasmara: They don't like immigrants. Urainia: Yes. The immigrants don't like immigrants. Why? Because they were the elite in their country and were on the lowest economic rung here until they worked their way up. You think they want our country giving away free opportunities like their country did? Apasmara: Not all immigrants are this way. Urainia: Not all. But most immigrants have money to travel to improve their life. Who doesn't have money to travel to improve their life? The poor trying to manage in their poor homeland. Who do we want as voters to improve the quality of life for everyone? Is it the elite who escaped and want to keep Others like them out, or is it the poor who have nothing? Apasmara: (turns away from garden/looks at Urainia) Won't the poor ruin your beautiful manicured garden? Urainia: This isn't my garden Apasmara, this is Our home (Apasmara's family pictures appear all over the glass walls so the garden shines through their images). The poor have always been the ones who maintain this beautiful garden through hard work, not the rich. When was the last time I saw you with a leaf blower? If you want your family home and gardens maintained, I suggest you find a way around your political isms and fix this home for all our children once and for all. Apasmara: Yes, Goddess. I guess I'm just (long pause) I'm afraid. Urainia: That's because you've used fear as a tool to enslave my nature. You kept pushing kids out into our universe because you know I love children, and while I'm eager to pull the rug of riches out from under you, I'm not so eager to do that to our kids. Apasmara: (sighs) Okay. Urainia: But, if our kids are maintained on this rug of riches, it's not good for them, either. I expect since you are an actor of many talents, you will fix this. Apasmara: Yes, Goddess.

It was an absolute treat. I fell in love with the musicians. I cried and laughed with them. I have followed the music for a long time. The way the filming was done was so real and true. Often I have seen documentaries try to push an agenda. Here, it was pure. It was telling the stories in a non-cliche, realist manner of these forgotten amazing musicians. Please please watch this film and maybe travel to Cuba!

Wim Wenders documents the intoxicating melodies of Cuban music and the touching spiritual musical journey of its musicians from a hiatus of over a decade in their homeland to Carnegie Hall, New York.

Very good documentary. Very insightful. It was a bit boring sometimes, but it's a wonder to watch these rather unknown musicians play their hearts out and create such beautiful music.

A film I should have seen ten years ago when I listened to the group rather often. Better late than never they say, and it did freshen up my interest at least. We witness a concert, not all of it since the members takes turn on doing interviews and telling their stories to the film crew as it goes on. Wim makes a nice presentation this way, as music is blended in with facts and stories. The story is fascinating but nothing super special. Cool music, nice fellas and an OK documentary. 6 out of 10 cigars.

A rich and beautiful story of music, love, passion and persistence. I've seen it twice, and will probably see it again.

Their life, music, and everything makes me a big fan of the cuban jazz music

Fantastic music, great stories. A charming film full of joy and love for music.

awesome and moving doc

loved the stream of consciousness style. he truly brought out the spirit of these artists, & their joy in making music ... & I was very inspired by this film !

4 stars for daring to be a different kind of music documentary, 2 for the annoying camerawork and the at times boring result.

Such an entertaining film. Brilliant!

Watched this about 10 years ago, and again now. Decent documentary. Still love the music.

I have to say I found this profoundly disappointing. I'm a huge fan of the Buena Vista album and absolutely love Cuba as a country so I must surely be the target market for this film. The thing is, you learn nothing, there is no insight into the surely captivating lives of these musicians and no storytelling arc to the film as a whole. You're left with the impression that Wenders' buddy Ry Cooder may well have wanted him involved in this story, but none of the actual Cubans did.