Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
In 1962 Joris Ivens was invited to Chile for teaching and filmmaking. Together with students he made …A Valparaíso, one of his most poetic films. Contrasting the prestigious history of the seaport with the present the film sketches a portrait of the city, built on 42 hills, with its wealth and poverty, its daily life on the streets, the stairs, the rack railways and in the bars. Although the port has lost its importance, the rich past is still present in the impoverished city. The film echoes this ambiguous situation in its dialectical poetic style, interweaving the daily life reality (of 1963) with the history of the city and changing from black and white to colour, finally leaving us with hopeful perspective for the children who are playing on the stairs and hills of this beautiful town.
Joris Ivens's poetic documentary portrait of Valparaíso is a genuinely singular work — its dialectical interweaving of historical grandeur and present-day poverty, combined with a distinctive shift between black-and-white and color, gives it an unmistakable visual and intellectual voice. The cinematography is exceptional, capturing the labyrinthine hills, funiculars, stairs, and harbor life with lyrical precision that elevates it well above standard travelogue fare. The 'plot,' such as it is in a documentary essay film, is thoughtfully structured around contrasts — wealth vs. poverty, past vs. present — earning a modest above-average. Acting is largely irrelevant as a category here since the subjects are non-actors living their lives, keeping that score low. The ending, with its hopeful focus on children at play, is poignant but somewhat conventionally optimistic for the genre, landing just above average.