Robert Mugge's musical portraits are fascinating for his astute choice of musician-philosophers as subjects: Sun Ra in A Joyful Noise (1981), Gil Scott-Heron in Black Wax (1983), Al Green, and now Ruben Blades. The new film opens with the singer-songwriter receiving his Master of Law degree from Harvard Law School, and then follows his return full circle, and full-time, to creating the powerful Latin music for which he is known around the world. In performance and in conversation, Blades reveals the passion behind the man who wrote and arranged "Buscando America" and "Silencio," and other songs which tell of the maelstrom of Latin American politics, and of the selling out of North American democracy for a lie. Blades dubs it musical journalism. This is clearly a mid-career portrait of a man who is going places: on a visit to his native Panama, we are witness to both his roots and his future, since Blades-no shrinking violet, and no stranger to the risks of success and the "crossover dream"-hopes eventually to capitalize on his global popularity by running for President of Panama.