Amália (2008)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

"Amália" is probably the best Portuguese movie ever! Since I was a little child, I listened Amália's songs (Fado), and her voice always make me think how would be her private life, both as a woman, as well as world-famous singer. "Amália" gives you a quite good image about that.SANDRA BARATA BELO is amazing as Amália. She is very physically similar to Amália and she incorporates 100% her personality. The screenplay is very well engineered and the cinematography is spectacular!I can't imagine this movie in another way, although it have some technical errors. For example, the Caracterization of the older Amália is a kind of exaggerated and a bit ridiculous... But that is comprehensible, we are in Portugal, and our cinema has not the evolution necessary to make it better.However, that is not the big point. The truth is that "Amália" is a Portuguese film above average for what would be expected, and to see him, we are shown so sincere and stunningly orchestrated, the life, work and career of the greatest singer of Portuguese Fado of all time!10 out of 10 {Especially by the boldness and courage!}

Since I was born in 1979, I never knew very well Amalia's life behind the stage or her career, even being very proud of Fado Music since it is what identifies Portugal. I also didn't noticed, till now, how beautiful her voice was, as all the songs in the movie have the original Amalia's voice...After watching this movie, I became really fascinated about her life story and career. If the film is mainly similar to what really happened, then it's just too hard to believe! Amalia, in the 1940's, was a woman much ahead of her time, against established customs and a fighter. I was really touched by all the sadness and difficulties that she went through: all the painful deaths, the indifference of her mother, the family and friend's interest about her money, the bad luck in love, the constant fear and obsession about her death, the dedication to the poor... Really moving...!Brilliant, the way the film adds meaning to many of her songs as the viewer realizes how the lyrics and songs were created: from very emotional situations! And then, Amalia, sings and cries them... She really adds an incredible feeling to the songs! She is living that same situations as she sings!What is also amazing is the actress itself... Sandra Barata makes a huge role here! It gave me the creeps, as, sometimes, it really looked like her in real life and also in the way she acted during the playback... Other great performance was António Pedro Cerdeira as Ricardo Espirito Santo, the famous banker of 1950's, in a really charismatic character.Many people say this isn't great a movie because it focuses her personal life instead of her important career, but does it really matter? Her career can be found in a lot of articles in the internet, but her personal life and what she had to face during her youth are a lot more fascinating... This is a very touching life story about the hard life of an amazing, intelligent woman and a world star that sometimes, all that she wanted was to be a common girl, to stop all her suffering and all the feelings she couldn't control...The beautiful soundtrack from the Budapest Symphony Orchestra (I suggest a quick listen to the track "Final" in the movie's official web site) adds the final touch for, what I think to be finally, an excellent Portuguese movie...

No, this is not our best movie at all!I'm a huge fan of Amália, so I really wanted to see this movie and I did. It's nice, but what's the real problem with it? Well, apart from the fact that this movie adds some fiction to suit better the audience, it really doesn't show at all how famous she gets. Her career is almost like secondary and what really matters is the romance... So, if you like soap operas, you'll like this one; OK, to be honest you'll get to know Amália better, and that's the best thing about this film; It helps to promote Amália, making people who didn't know her so well to have a glimpse of how great she was.