This is why documentaries should be made, to introduce an audience to an extraordinary aspect of the world that they know nothing about.

Isabel 'Chavela' Vargas was a cigar smoking, womanizing, alcoholic lesbian in Mexico before any of that was cool. Her career took off on the 40's and had its ups and downs until she died in 2012. Along the way she was **very** close to Frida Kahlo and, much later, dear friends with Pedro Almodóvar. The Wikipedia aspect of the documentary is fascinating enough, replete with original footage of the trail blazing _ranchera_ singer and her epoch.

But what sets this film apart is the music. My god, the footage of Chavela Vargas singing at the beginning of the film brought tears to my eyes even before my brain understood what was happening. She had a soulful voice that came from some primitive place inside her, and she sang with all of her emotions on display yet with no fear and no shame. That contagious passion is something no article or book can ever convey, and why _Chavela_ is a prime example of a documentary that had to be made.