I read some reviews about Backlight and some of them are really bad. Bad in a way that they aren't argued enough. I think that all the people should have an opinion but the opinions must have facts and things with meaning. That's why I think that I have a few things to say... First of all, Backlight is a fantastic movie and If you have some doubts about what I said, please, watch the movie again and try to understand it. Watch a movie is not just see what is in the screen, is see something through the screen! A message to the world. Cinema is an art that send messages in a single way. Through sound, image and, the most important, a story. The soundtrack of Backlight is amazing. Please, listen with attention. Santos e Pecadores, Nuno Maló... You don't know them? Well sometimes its good, because I know some "artists" and I would prefer don't know them. The movie don't have special effects like Transformers or War of the Worlds? Yes, its a fact! But I have a very good explanation for that: Money! Please remember that Fernando Fragata is Portuguese and don't have so many sponsors like Spielberg. He made the movie with some help but, essentially alone. Yes, alone... Can you imagine what is make a movie in these conditions? OK, we all have difficulties in life. I just wrote this for you understand that, like Fernando Fragata said "I didn't make the movies that I would like, but I did the movies that were possible to me". You want throw a stone for that? Please, be my guest, but remember that a movie is much more than that. Art is about passion, feelings. The story of Backlight is really good! The way that all the things fit until the final apotheosis is brilliant! The meaning in the objects are so amazing. Don't have a meaning but, the beauty is that somethings in life don't have a meaning. You just feel... You just listen some voices that are saying to you to go ahead. Also the GPS story is a true story of a women that died in a car crash and the husband took the gps and went the last address. The last address was a orphanage. The women was infertile and was thinking in adopt a child. All the story of Backlight is about real stories that Fernando saw. Is not an empty story with no meaning. Is something with a little magic (the magic in the objects) that make us to believe in things like that. You don't need a good camera or be in amazing places to make a good movie, you just need to have passion! A good Story! To make people forget their lives or, maybe, thinking in life and in human condition. OK, I like special effects and good monsters and wars but, first of all, I like a good Story! A meaning. If you are looking for some crap with famous actors, amazing effects, no meaning, poorly argued and an empty story like a cliché, please don't see this. See a Hollywood crap. Otherwise if you are looking for a good movie, with so many passion, meaning and a brilliant story, well, then you must see Backlight.
