Rigoletto

Great music! Jospeh Paur gives an excellent performance as Ribaldi/Rigoletto. I would like to see more movies that he has played in. This movie ranks as one of my all time favorites. "Rigoletto" is rich in underlying themes that teach the value of looking past differences in other people and showing that the real beauty in people is found by looking in their hearts.

This movie is magical. I watched it with my little cousin when all the adults and older kids were watching a pg-13 movie, I told her I would watch a movie with her and when she said Rigoletto I about died. I thought how can I survive an hour and a half of FFF torture. But I loved it!!! I made all the adults watch it the next morning and everyone enjoyed it. I was like watching a play in a theater. You are allowed to let the kid inside shine through and just get wrapped up in the story. It is truely a movie for the whole family.

...or so might say G. K. Chesterton.



What's good about this film is that it understates fairyland's case. It isn't pedantic. It leaves the trip to fairyland as an exercise for the student. It doesn't draw lines between the dots.

In the jaded postmodern era, a film like that's to be highly praised, whatever its other flaws.

I had first seen Rigoletto many, many years ago, not to long after it first came out. I loved it then, and I still love it now. I spent the last week working at a Christian camp as a counseler for their junior camp (4th -6th graders). What a rowdy bunch of energetic kids!!! They were nearly impossible to contain for longer than a few minutes, without them getting up and wandering around!

We had a movie night, and watched Rigoletto, and I kid you not, every single little pair of eyes was glued to that screen, and they were quiet for the whole thing! One of the kids even told the counselers, who were discussing something, to be quiet! It held their attention the whole movie, it was amazing!

No, this film is not incredibly well acted or rich in cinematic scope. It doesn't have to be. The premise is not original and the film is fairly predictable. And that's ok. Because what the film does deliver it delivers very well. Made for families, this film gently reminds the viewer of Beauty and the Beast and Phantom of the Opera....with moral lessons about discrimination, forgiveness and judgment shared along the way. Add to this a heartwarming soundtrack, and it makes for a very pleasurable and touching experience in front of the small screen.

When the mysterious and seldom seen Ribaldi comes to town, things begin to happen. Some good and some not. How will the town people address the changes in their community, who will be painted the villain, and whose lives will be indelibly changed? Take a chance and enjoy the serene magic of this quiet little film and share a few tears and smiles with your family. Quality time guaranteed.