José María Cabral lashes the eyes, provokes the mind, and assaults the senses with the immersive 42nd Street, which takes us deep into the rich and explosive artistic underground of the Dominican Republic. The urban art and dance scene of the Capotillo neighborhood of Santo Domingo is a twenty-four-hour hustle and bustle, a cultural melting pot of styles, rhymes and crimes, all fused together in this film that makes you feel the heat, taste the sweat, smell the weed and embrace the beat as a select group of profiled influential local artists act as our guides into this dog eat dog, create, thrive and survive situation of living.
Cabral’s anthological structure is a combination of interviews, testimonials, and elements of what was originally conceived as a scripted drama thrown together into the mix, blending with vibrant, popping colors, characters, and courageous dedication to the preservation of personal artistic expression and freedom from political oppression. For the Capotillo landmark, regarded by the powers as merely an infamous den of vice and illegalities, Thus, frequently, the police are called out to bring an end to the seemingly perpetual celebration.
Through in-your-face footage and from the mouths of the artists such as Maco Boba, Natasha Dancer, Demetal and Ricardo La Musica, we learn of the price and patience paid towards trying to make a living, feed families, make an impact and fight against a corrupt police force coupled with a fascist government that merely wants to control the flow of commerce, and not have these impetuous itinerants reap any of the benefits of the blood, sweat and tears they put into their passions.
“…trying to make a living, feed families, make an impact…”
Delivering the same fly-on-the-wall quality of Ondi Timoner’s Dig! the seminal music doc, 42nd Street boasts a block-party-bouncing soundtrack which matches perfectly with Herman Herrera’s mystifyingly intimate camerawork. The impossible energy of the performers and the unsettling dread of the masked riot cops who storm in, randomly attacking and arresting people, makes for a unique viewing experience which juggles conflicting emotions that encompass everything from rage to anguish, desperation to euphoria. Cabral’s picture is spilling at the edges with ecstasy amid urgency.
In the increasingly conflicted world that we inhabit, only seems to grow in its inconceivable nature, the path through the madness and manufacturing of dissent will be left to the artist to interpret and make some sense of semblance out of. Those who give in to the weight of the chains of the oppressors will be crushed underfoot. 42nd Street plays like that loud, proud music of heart, hope, and soul, that speaks to the restless and weary, telling them not to fade. Because even after the terror of the darkest night, there’ll come a new, bright and shining day.
This is more of a kind of musical baptism of fire than simply a movie of artistry and defiance. More so, it says a great deal about the appropriation of what small pockets of creativity have the potential to generate. The world may be so much larger in its populous, but thanks to radical advances in social platforms and information technology, it may be such small pockets of brave and adventurous artisans that shall be tasked with carrying the standard, and not letting the little but important voices fall silent.
"…a kind of musical baptism of fire..."
