Chavela

"Chavela" is an affectionate profile of the legendary woman who introduced the world to soulful Mexican ranchero music, the likes of which had never been heard before. As another singer so aptly said, Chavela Vargas would strip all the happiness out of these songs and make it the music of the wounded soul representing the tragic end of love. However, what really made this wild woman's tale so compelling was the fact she was just as famous for her appetite for beautiful women and tequila, both of which she consumed in large quantities.

Born in Costa Rica in 1919 and abandoned by both her parents, Chavela migrated to Mexico at the age of 14 to pursue her career as a singer. Although she never openly discussed her sexuality until she came out publicly at the ripe old age of 81, Chavela made no attempt to hide it. She outraged the public by dressing like a man, saying, "When I dressed like a woman I just looked like a transvestite." It was one of the reasons that her early career was restricted to singing in small cabaret venues. The fact that she drank so heavily, which made her unreliable, didn't help either; but to her loyal band of fans in society's underground, Chavela was a real star.

A strikingly handsome woman, she never had trouble seducing pretty women to feed her insatiable appetite, and even made a point of focusing on bored wives of successful businessmen and politicians. She was at one time the lover of Frida Kahlo. In fact, no one was out of her reach; in the movie, she recounts how, in her heyday, as a guest at Elizabeth Taylor's wedding to Mike Todd, she ended up in bed with Ava Gardener -- a totally unsubstantiated story, but at this point in her life it seems completely believable.

Her downfall was an obsession to party hard with the male musicians she traveled with. Chavela wanted to prove she could not only drink more but was stronger and more macho than they were. The aftermath was a long period -- 15 years -- when she unable to get any work and was reduced to a poverty-stricken life in a squalid one-room apartment in a small village, relying on neighbors to feed her even as whatever little money she could lay her hands on went for drink.

During this period she met her longtime lover, Alicia Elena Perez, who takes a lot of the credit for finally getting her to stop drinking. But it was filmmaker Pedro Almod�var who was responsible for rescuing Chavela's career and launching her in big venues like the Olympia in Paris, a boost that propelled her to superstar status. Almod�var relates how, once he discovered Chavela and invited her to Spain to perform, he not only was enthralled with her performances to the point that he incorporated her highly emotional music into his movies, but he also became her champion.

This engrossing documentary by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi has a wealth of archival footage, including a very revealing interview with Chavela recorded in 1992. It is, however, the liberal use of clips of her performing through various parts of her life and career that really capture the true essence of why this legendary singer was so adored. They are all wracked with extreme emotion, which is even jacked up a notch or two as she grows frailer toward the end of her life.

Almod�var says that Chavela lived in a continuous sense of farewell, and that is why she insisted on keeping on performing even when she was confined to a wheelchair, insisting that nothing would make her happier than to die on stage singing.

"What a blessing from the cosmos to be born a woman," Chavela once said. And what a woman she was: Totally non-conforming, and such a radiant star, so deserving of this profile, which will introduce her music to a new generation.

"Chavela"
DVD
$27
https://www.musicboxfilms.com