by Cristina Aguilar Friar

Created on: February 28, 2008

When I was a child my mother used to sing La Vie en Rose in Spanish and my father would listen to the song in English by Louis Armstrong. I'd hear the song as background music in countless movies. I always loved the song, but never knew anything about the woman who made it so internationally famous.

Being the fond music lover I am I was curious about the woman who made the song famous so I decided to watch the film about her life. What struck me so incredible about Edith Piaf's life was how she was born in the streets and went from homeless, starving waif, to international superstar. She definitely lived a life dreams are made of inspite of the desparate tragedies she endured. There is a moving part in the film when she tells her "loser" mother that she was going to the top. That she'd always known she'd go to the top. Perhaps that revelation came to her when she was nine years old and sang for the first time in the streets.

The movie was long, but far from slow, and it showed a part of French life I never imagined existed, particularly a slice of post war France and what the French people endured during those times.

I can see why she is a cultural icon because her voice brought together pride and a sense of life to the French people, in short her voice and song was what showed who the French were in love and life.

The heart break of losing a child was a normal occurence on the streets of Paris. And although Edith suffered this tragic loss it was something that she could move on from because death was just part of her existence. For her to live at all in those times under those conditions was a miracle in itself.

The film was an excellent example of humanity triumphing over great odds. Of a person who knew deep down what her potential was and where she was going. Losing the great love of her life was especially heartbreaking since most of her life seemed so loveless. She never had real love from her, mother, father or even grandmother. She was someone you tolerated rather than loved.

Although this film is riddled with tragedy throughout, it really showed a beauty and thoughtfulness of how one person can be born in the gutter and rise up like a star from nothing.

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