Not really what we could say a designed single to get some airplay on radios or TV yet somehow it got a music video by the program "Fantástico", the magnificent and
slightly enigmatic "Soldados" got a quite interesting video where the Legião Urbana perform the song while a collage of images involving an old soldier observing beaches and
the people having fun and also archive footage from different wars and conflicts appear. In two brief moments the clip is interrupted by an interview with lead singer Renato
Russo where he exposes some facts about Legião Urbana and also a minor point of view about the song.
Well, the song's idea when it comes to reflect the lyrics on the surface is present in the video, no question about it. There's the soldier, the pain and mysery and the
wars. It's all there. But on the other hand, as contemporary analysis of the song (and perhaps even Russo might have said something about it) shows it, the deep meaning of it
is totally absent from there although understandable. The hidden deep meaning reflects about homosexual relations during youth, there's plenty of evidences that supports that
notion and it's quite known that Russo made several cryptic songs about sexuality. However, considering the time and the fact the group was just on their very first album which
took some awful time to finally get released, I understand why they avoided the controversy. Very comprehensible.
It isn't one of their finest music video moments but it's cool that a non official single really got something made to be seen by wide audiences of 1985, although very
limited if we consider that "Fantástico" videos only got broadcast when it was the biggest release of a certain sunday and barely got repeated views like MTV videos. But it
survived the time and it's still available. I liked the images, the ideas and concepts presented and it works just fine. 9/10
P. S.: color and black-and-white versions are available.