The beginning of the film is unusual: Jorge Pardo Playing the flute while reclining in the dentist's chair. One might say that these two elements, flamenco music and the aforementioned medical specialty, couldn't be more disparate. And yet, they are precisely the things that the young filmmaker from Córdoba brings together. Dany Ruz (Montilla, 1992) in his first feature-length documentary, entitled Bernabé, the smile of flamenco.
The film in question stars Bernabé Roldán Garrido, a resident of the Cordoban town of Rute who gained fame among artists jondothe root of being Paco de Lucía's trusted dentistIn fact, the film begins with Ruz's surprise at learning that the guitar giant, before leaving forever on February 25, 2014, was a frequent visitor to the region, and something even more surprising: that Roldán jealously guarded some tapes with unpublished images of Paco himself in intimate and family settings.
There is no doubt that Paco de Lucía had complete trust in Bernabé's work and as a person: he was capable of traveling many miles to put himself in his hands when circumstances required it. The time when the Algeciras native fell ill before attending an important gala in Fez, Morocco, remains vivid in our memory. He called Bernabé, and it so happened that he was in the country. Without hesitation, he arranged for a driver, they traveled to where Paco was, and settled into a clinic where he underwent a root canal on the very day of the concert, which the maestro performed flawlessly. From then on, Paco would joke that, If he was the master of the six strings, Bernabé was “the master of the mouthpiece”As someone who loved to give nicknames to his closest friends, Bernabé was given the nickname of The Chamberlain, “because it fixes everything”.
"Bernabé, the smile of the flamenco It's a lively feature film, brimming with flamenco passion and emotional intelligence—the kind that can turn adversity into opportunity. But above all, as its title suggests, it's a film that you watch from beginning to end with a smile on your face.
All of this would be nothing more than an anecdote if it weren't for the fact that Queen Victoria Clinic in Rute It would eventually become a pilgrimage center for all kinds of creators flamencoYes, the same ones who parade through the film recounting impressions and anecdotes about the character: the guitarists Emilio Caracafé, Antonio Sánchez, Andrés El Pájaro, the flamenco singer and multi-instrumentalist Diego Amadorthe flamenco dancers farru y Rosario Montoya The Farruca...
Under the guise of preparing a tribute to the genius, they all share anecdotes and reminiscences, of which I am most struck by the one in which Manuel Molina he snapped at Raymond Amador“Do as I do, don’t listen to Paco! Don’t you see that if you listen to him you can’t do anything else?” There are also priceless scenes, like the one where Bernabé Roldán is practicing a filling or something similar in the dental box of Pepe Bao, while the bassist plays tangos from Córdoba on his instrument…
However, the story takes an unexpected turn, partly due to the admittedly inexperienced debut filmmaker, partly due to the setbacks that arise during filming, and partly because, as the saying goes, men make plans and the gods laugh… Little by little, the figure of this magnetic dentist from Córdoba is illuminated from other angles, revealing new facets so that the audience can discover, for example, his role as a traveling theater actor with…The Traveling Comedians, or the role it played in the Flemish revolution embodied by the Veneno, with Kiko Veneno and the Amador brothers.
At that point, the viewer almost forgets—only almost—that Paco de Lucía was the starting point and central focus of the documentary, as it takes whimsical turns, much like life itself, introducing other equally astonishing characters. A lively feature film, brimming with flamenco passion and emotional intelligence—the kind that can transform adversity into opportunity—but above all, as its title suggests, a film that is watched from beginning to end with a smile on your face. ♦
