Francisca Gavilán in Violeta Went to Heaven (Kino Lorber, 2011)
Director Andrés Wood’s film doesn’t shy away from the usage of symbolism and an unconventional structure to explore holistically the life of Chilean folklorist Violeta Parra. The results are mesmerizing.
In the first shot of Wood’s film, a hazel eye gazes directly at the spectator. This eye reappears throughout the film and the ephemeral gaze actually bookends both the film’s liminal and concluding moments. The eye has long functioned as a trope within art. From literature, with Sauron in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, to Foucault’s philosophy and his use of the panoptic eye, to Vertov’s “Kino-Eye” in his cinema, the eye can symbolize a form of evaluation and even reckoning. Those familiar with the life of Violeta Parra know that it ends in suicide and, thus, we might be led to believe that any symbolic use of the eye in a film about her life would be used to critically scrutinize her death. But Andrés Wood surprisingly utilizes the eye in a facet much more sympathetic to Parra’s plight.
Wood chooses to craft Violeta Went to Heaven (Violeta se fue a los cielos, 2011) in a fashion that blends scenes from Parra’s life – from her childhood to her adulthood– with scenes that show Violeta’s reflections from her afterlife. The biopic, like other famous works of Latin American art, such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 100 Years of Solitude, jumps through time and uses nonlinear temporality as reality intersects with Violeta’s afterlife in the film. The title of the film foreshadows the film’s coda and its structure.
Parra grew up in southern Chile in an impoverished household. Yet, these destitute circumstances would forge extraordinarily prosperous minds, as some of Violeta’s children would mature to become famous singers and Violeta’s brother – Nicanor Parra – would become one of the most iconic poets in Chilean history. In the film, a young Violeta watches her musically inclined father, in a drunken stupor, bow down to the wishes of his audiences; he is willing to debase himself and even do animalistic dances for the crowd’s amusement. Contrapuntally, Violeta develops an uncompromising will as an adult and an unwavering belief – not dissimilar to those held by many geniuses – that she is of elite talent. Her actions seem to demonstrate an unspoken promise to herself never to allow her work to be minimized or doubted as her father’s had.
Francisca Gavilán in Violeta Went to Heaven (Kino Lorber, 2011)
We first see this potent attitude when Violeta travels with her folk band to perform at a mining outpost in rural Chile. But the site bosses refuse to let Violeta perform anything secular since it is a religious holiday. At first, Violeta and her group cede to these new terms; but, at the end of her performance, Violeta takes out her drum and defiantly belts out an impassioned version of her song “Arriba quemando el sol” (“The Burning Sun Above”). In these sorts of moments, Francisca Gavilán – a talented actress and hypnotic singer in her own right – does Violeta justice in her portrayal. This attitude of defiance follows Parra to Europe as she presents her art to the European elite. Parra utilizes the pain she experiences from poverty and the death of her infant child to motivate her to create new tapestries that she knows are of supreme quality. She, perhaps arrogantly, states to her boyfriend that she always knew that her artwork was worthy of being in the Louvre – and she was right.
Yet, with every success comes some degree of disrespect, perhaps, because of Parra’s modest background. During her time in Europe, her art is indeed featured at the Louvre but later she is asked to eat with the servants after her musical performance. Parra’s lover admires her but he doesn’t wish to commit to her. Her musical community center in Chile never becomes anything more than a niche attraction despite her being the owner. Such moments weigh heavily on Parra, and her patience and her toleration for these moments of disrespect begin to fade.
Thus, the film’s denouement does depict Violeta’s suicide as a culminating moment. As the Chilean newspaper La Tercera reported back in 2011, the film’s depiction of Violeta resulted in some rifts within the Parra family. The film was eponymously named after the biography written by Parra’s son Ángel. He was quite involved in the creation of the film and, in La Tercera’s article, Wood even claimed to have Ángel’s blessing. Alternatively, the daughter of Violeta, Isabel Parra, felt that the film was not true to the life of Violeta and her tragic end. Despite these dissenting opinions, one of the film’s last scenes may provide some unity. As Violeta’s impending death approaches, many of the film’s characters (Violeta’s past selves played by younger actresses, her children, her lovers, and her friends) watch her performance in heaven and they burst out into applause. The spirit of this moment is undoubtedly true – that Violeta’s music brought and continues to bring beauty and reflection into the lives of all generations. Violeta forged musical and artistic masterpieces that addressed themes such as love, religion, politics, and death. She was able to observe and carefully represent life through her art. It’s possible that, while Violeta’s sclera symbolized her reflection of her own life throughout the film, Wood’s decision to end the film with the same image also shows his desire for his film to catalyze our own investigations into her life and art.
Work Cited
González, R., and C. Vergara. “Familia de Violeta Parra se divide ante película de Andrés Wood.” La Tercera, 25 Aug. 2011. http://www2.latercera.com/noticia/familia-de-violeta-parra-se-divide-ante-pelicula-de-andres-wood/. Accessed 31 May 2018.
Author Biography
Stephen Borunda is a Mexican-American filmmaker and educator. He graduated from The Johns Hopkins University with a BA in political science and history and an MS in education. His work has appeared in Film Matters and the Santiago Times newspaper in Chile. He will be a Chancellor’s Fellow this fall at UC Santa Barbara in the film and media MA/PhD program. His studies will concentrate on works of political Latin American cinema.
Film Details
Violeta Went to Heaven (2011)
Chile
Director Andrés Wood
Runtime 110 minutes
