The title A LOS LIBROS Y A LAS MUJERES CANTO (To Books and Women I Sing) is a cleverly rewritten quote from Virgil. This daring opening gesture clearly illustrates what this film is all about: the civilizing role of women and literature.
María Elorza’s first feature film is made up of four portraits of women and their libraries (which contain more than just books). Although there is much admiration for the director’s portrayal of women, this documentary is the opposite of the heroic-epic stories that are so characteristic of a male-dominated culture. The director wants to give a voice to (and sing along with) the characters and stories that often remain on the margins of literature and film – and at the same time pay tribute to the earthiness of these passionate women.
The film stands out because it consciously does not strive for greatness, but is instead humble, playful, curious, conspiratorial and exceptionally warm. In A LOS LIBROS Y A LAS MUJERES CANTO, Elorza combines interviews with archive material, photographs, paintings, home videos, witty intertitles, songs and film fragments, thus creating a dialogue between film and literature and between different generations of women. Based on the idea that “literature does not belong only to scholars and enlightened people”, this is a documentary in which passion, dedication, preservation and tradition are more important than genius.
