I knew who Pina Bausch was before I saw this movie. But I didn't have much of an idea of what exactly she had been famous for.
After seeing it, I realized what it was she did. And I understood why she became such a legend.
Pina Bausch (1940-2009) was a dance performer, choreographer, and dancing/ballet teacher and she was undoubtedly one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. She even influenced David Bowie. Do I need to say more? ;-)
This movie now is Wim Wender's monument to her art, a documentary showing extracts from four of her pieces. Some of her dancers tell their story of how they became part of Bausch's ensemble, the Tanztheater Wuppertal. Pina is clearly not a movie for people whose preferred movie genre is only horror, or only action. You gotta be able to sit down, relax - maybe with a glass of wine, maybe even by yourself - and allow yourself to really sink into the wonders of Pina Bausch's art and the beauty of epxressing yourself through art in ways that at least I had never even thought were possible.
Kimberly Jones of The Austin Chronicle described the movie as an "utterly transfixing, exhilarating spectacle", and she couldn't have found better words. The fantastic score underlines perfectly what Pina was aiming at: creating a medium for expressing yourself and connecting with others through dancing. Wim Wenders made a movie that is overwhelming and incredibly fragile and tender at the same time. If you thought you knew what dancing meant, watch this movie and think again.
RATING: 5/5
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