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Music of the heart (50 violins)

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

She opened their eyes. They opened her heart.

Roberta Guaspari's (Meryl Streep) world crashed down around her when her husband walked out on her and her two young children. Like women before her, Roberta sacrificed her career because it was not compatible with her husband's career. He was in the Navy and they moved around so often that she was simply unable to maintain a job. Following their separation, she vowed to live by her own set of rules; she would not permit anyone to define who she was or what she was capable of accomplishing.

Roberta left the security of her small hometown and moved to one of America's toughest neighbourhoods, East Harlem. She wanted to finally have the opportunity to teach the violin. She didn't have extensive experience to offer the school; she had her talent, her determination and her violins. At first, the kids, the parents, and the principal, Janet Williams (Angela Bassett), were sceptical but Roberta taught with such passion that it was infectious and soon her young violinists were manifesting incredible results - they were making beautiful, sophisticated music.

Despite her successes, after 10 years of teaching, the school board decided to cancel her funding. With the support of her friends and the community, she set out to do what no one else dared. Roberta fought back.

Also starring Aidan Quinn as Brian Sinclair, Cloris Leachman as Assunta Guaspari, Gloria Estefan as Isabel Vasquez, Josh Pais as Dennis, Jay O Sanders as Dan and Jane Leeves as Dorothea van Hauften. Written by Pamela Gray, directed by Wes Craven.

Cinematic intelligence sources

Music of the heart official movie site
Studios and distributors:

Roadshow Films

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Andante themes and High level violins. Hehehe hahaha hohoho! Gosh, I have a brilliant sense of humour!

Anyhoo, Music of the heart (50 violins) is just what it sounds like, a heart-warming film that's full of music; what makes it even more heart-warming is that it's based on a true story. Meryl is Meryl, ie she gives good performance and never manages to look as old as she should. Angela (are all New York school principals African-American women?) balances "feminine" empathy with "masculine" authority. Aidan is actually good. The best performances, though, come from the kids, from the disgruntled African-Americans to the disgruntled Spanish-Americans. They're angry, they're happy, they're challenged, they're creative. And they make sounds with a violin that should never be heard let alone recorded and put in a movie.

Being a true story you know that everything will end up ok (the USA continues its fearless addiction to impossibly happy endings) but that doesn't take anything away from this story. The reward is the journey, not the destination.