The film Tango was a powerful representation of many aspects of the Latin American culture. We were able to see the portrayal of music and dance, love between man and woman and the ever present military influence in the country. Music and dance were definentely the driving force in the film. The director uses all the influence of the Tango dance to set the direction of the film. The film is based around a man writing a "musical" based on the dance, music and power of the military. The use of lighting,props and stage effects was another interesting part of the film. He was able to use different colors of light to set the tone for the specific theme he was trying to show in that scene. The intensity of music grew as the film advanced. The theme of black and white colors were interesting. The director used this several times with the two main female actors dancing together, the younger girl had white clothes and the older woman had black clothing. Another use was with the male dancers wearing black and white, perhaps to contrast or to present good vs evil?
The presence of military depicted was very strong. It was evident that the director Mario must have been deeply impacted by the war that had occured in Argentina. He was very intent on presenting this history in his musical even if it cost him his job. I found the quote that he used interesting, "The past is indestructable: it keeps coming back up." Even though the owners wanted to forget about the past and the pain involved he was focused on keeping the memory alive as part of the history. This film was sometimes difficult to follow but it did encompass many aspects of the Hispanic culture.
Becky Bittinger
