So maybe the film adaptation of legenday Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Love In The Time Of Cholera" didn't fully live-up to the source material, but the soundtrack has. Antonio Pinto has scored a beautiful, lush work that brings the world of the film to life with atmospheric sounds and some strong original songs by Shakira. The soundtrack begins with Shakira's contributions, a set of three songs that capture the film's bittersweet love story. Shakira herself is Colombian and gives us a classic bolero "Hay Amores" which has a wonderful, classic feel. The Golden Globe nominated "Despedida" is dramatic and memorable while "Pienso En Ti" has a passive, reflective mood powered by Shakira's strong vocals. The rest of the score by Pinto is a rich set of melodies and pieces that combine the orchestal with authentic music from the Caribbean region where the story takes place. There is a haunting quality to the mix of strings and guitar in a track like "Love." "White Suit" has a cool, breezy feel while "Hildebranda" evokes the kind of indigenous, almost Afro-Caribbean sounds one finds in the coasts of South America. Antonio Pinto has composed a score of heartbreak and tears, wanting and despair, all nicely evoked in tracks like "Escolastica" and "Florentino" where the orchestra swells with great gusto. "Sex Drum" has a great tribal feel while "Los Dos" is a fun, ethnic song that again evokes the Caribbean with wonderful atmosphere. "Love In The Time Of Cholera" has that rare quality in a film score in that it stands apart from the film and in fact, elevated many of the film's weaker scenes or performances. A potent mix of film score and world music, this one is for the romantics and for the ones with sharp ears.