Salomé (2002)

Great Film overall

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The film includes a brief intro to the actors/dancers playing the characters and some rehearsal scenes, and then we go to the show itself. The actors are amazing in this, especially Aída Gómez, who's an amazing dancer and can express Salome's thoughts and emotions flawlessly and passionately. The rest of the cast are also excellent. The production design is stunning, and perfect for the source material.

I'm getting really into these Saura dance movies. This one, however, I didn't much care for. It's pretty much just straight ballet, which as I've said before is a form that doesn't speak to me at all. I find it a very ineffective method of storytelling. I kind of get what people are doing and how they feel, but the "why" eludes me. I can't decode it, my brain just doesn't work that way. I need some narrative glue between the dances, or I need the dance to be more dynamic and exciting. However, I did enjoy the behind-the-scenes stuff in the first part, with dancers working out their moves, the "director" (actually an actor) giving guidance, the discussions of the music and staging. And the film is quite lovely, again utilizing a very spare soundstage and gorgeous lighting. It's just that ballet is so dull to me.

A director (Pere Arquillué) is developing a ballet giving his interpretation to the biblical tale of Salome. He explains to the dancers and crew that in his version, Salomé (Aída Gómez) is in love for John the Baptist (Javier Toca). However, the rejection of her love associated to the poison of Herodias (Carmen Villena) makes the revengeful Salomé plot an evil scheme against John the Baptist. When King Herod (Paco Mora) asks the seductive Salomé to dance for him, she makes him promises to give anything she wants. In the end of her performance, she demands the head of John the Baptist.Carlos Saura promotes and gives a tribute to the Flamenco dance in his trilogy – "Bodas de Sangre", "Carmen" and "El Amor Brujo" and to the tango in "Tango". In Salomé, this great director shows the preparation and rehearsal of a ballet, with the director discussing representation, set decoration and lighting on the stage. The result is a beautiful ballet, full of colors and with a wonderful music score. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Salomé"

I am always amazed by Saura's ability in catching the essence of things and doubly (triply) stress them: a) as beauty (images, color, music: Bodas de Sangre, Carmen, El Amor Brujo, Salomé, Goya); b) as metaphors (Ana y los Lobos, for instance); c) as a concerned view of social problems and facts (Ana y los Lobos; El Dorado; Mamá cumple 100 años; Goya; Tango...). He has the impressive quality of presenting, at the same time, deep political and sociological analysis, illuminated overviews of Spanish culture (don't forget this!), additionally being able to show them in the highest terms of aesthetics... Spanish culture is one of the richest in Europe and the world. Through the perception of his own cultural heritage, Saura contributes brilliantly to make it universal. My family is of Spanish origin. Saura has made evident to me many roots of Latin American history and culture ("where am I?"; "where do I come from?"... "WHAT am I?").