Hector Lavoe and His Life In Film-One Is Not Enough

Bronx, NY August 23, 2007 - There have been lots of reviews that question the honesty and integrity of the new movie EL CANTANTE in terms of its accuracy depicting the events that took place in the life of Hector Lavoe after his arrival in NYC, shortly before meeting Puchi and during their 20 plus years of a turbulent, off/on, highly dysfunctional, love and hate relationship.

It was no secret that Hector was a troubled guy, but the depth of his talent, that natural ability to please the audience and make them sing and dance to his rhythm always surpassed the discomfort created by his late arrivals to almost every gig.
His ability for “Soneo” and improvisation was like a gift he never understood clearly, although he handled it really well.

Director Leon Ichaso’s El Cantante is in itself some sort of an acid trip. His palette produced colors that give the film a psychedelic touch.

It moves fast between one moment and the next one, the zoom-in shots create the feeling of being closer to the characters during the conversations, the soundtrack adds elements of drama, and it clearly shows a Marc Anthony with a more aggressive voice and presence than Lavoe himself.

However, Lavoe was Lavoe and Marc Anthony is Marc Anthony, different times, different styles. There should never be a comparison, just out of respect to Lavoe’s legacy.

Puchi (Jennifer Lopez) seemed to be in control of everything in Hector’s life, but her own life was clearly out of control. Even in the movie’s black and white moments, during the tv interview, she appeared desperately attempting to be convincing, trying to make us believe she meant well for Hector. And she did, in fact, but (at the same time)she didn't have enough understanding of the destructiveness of her own demons.
Denial at its best.

But besides the artistic value of this film (or the lack thereof), there are other issues being discussed among Puerto Ricans from NYC, two interesting groups formed by the ones called “Boricuas De La Mata” and The NewYorkRicans.

The difference is not clear sometimes but among themselves, they can differentiate between one another.
One group is made of Puerto Ricans born and raised in the island, and the others are the ones born in NYC from Puertorican parents.

Each one has an understandable argument for and against the film.

One interesting point is that the film El Cantante fails to capture some important aspects of Lavoe’s life as a Jibaro, and that the true story of Hector, which is to be (tentatively) released by year’s end will be the film that’ll do justice to the artist known as The Singer Of Singers in the Salsa world.

The film, aptly titled The Singer: The Untold Story Of Hector Lavoe, features Raul Carbonell as the singer, Patricia Monterola and Salsa Superstar La India.

This appears to be a film made with less commercial interest than the artistic obligation to tell a story as close to reality as possible, maintaining the PuertoRican essence of Hector’s life and everything around him.

It seems evident from the movie trailer that this one promises to be a story with more "Boricua" flava than El Cantante.

“Downtown” Lorenzo Fenix
Ontarget Media Management, LLC
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