Music of the Heart

Roberta Guaspari (Meryl Streep) and her two kids move back home with her mom Assunta (Cloris Leachman) after her husband run off with her friend. She never made it as a concert violinist and teach sparingly as she is pulled around the world by her navy husband. An old friend Brian Turner (Aidan Quinn) directs her to Principal Janet Williams (Angela Bassett) who reluctantly hires her as a substitute music teacher in the East Harlem inner city school. All the teachers hate her except Isabel Vasquez (Gloria Estefan).

It's a pretty traditional biopic by director Wes Craven who usually does horror. It's not a particularly original true story but it's an effective one. The most impressive thing in this is Meryl Streep. She holds the movie together. There are all the classic hurdles like the intransigent teachers, poverty, angry parents, violent neighborhood, and tough luck kids. Through it all, Streep works her butt off pulling the right heartstrings.

In honour of the passing of Wes Craven, I wanted to seek out a film of his. Of course, as the go-to-guy for horror movies, my least favourite genre, I had to scan through his filmography to find the bizarrely out-of-character film Music of the Heart. As the only non-horror film on the list, it won the honour fairly easily.

It surprises me to no end that a horror film maestro could create what is probably one of the best feel-good movies I have ever seen. I can pick a passion project when I see it, and I am positive that Craven was passionate about this story and to telling it right. When I was growing up, music lessons were everything to me. You could escape into a whole other world when you practised, and the instrument became a friend when none other might be. This film captured that more than any other I've seen.

For a character who looks and sounds like Meryl Streep, it is amazing how much Meryl Streep vanishes into Roberta. She captures with full conviction the passion she has for her music, whilst also layering her character with personality quirks that inform us why her marriage has broken down. Streep layers that with bursts of anger, sadness and even humour that never feel out of place because they feel like Roberta's real emotions. She could have walked into my high school's music department and wouldn't have felt even a little bit out of place. This is probably my favourite ever Meryl Streep performance. From an unknown supporting cast, Angela Basset is stunningly effective as Janet, a Harlem principal holding a school together with her bare hands.

The film essentially splits into two halves, with a ten year break in between. The first is Roberta's struggle to deal with the breakdown of her marriage and her desire to make the program work not to help the kids, but to make ends meet. But as the first act goes on, interactions with the kids show her how much the program means to them - even the troublemakers who give her flack but show up week after week in spite of everything. In the second half, ten years later than the first, Roberta's program is in jeopardy and she must fight to maintain it, because she has seen now how much good it can do.

The relationship between Roberta and the kids - especially Jade Yorker's DeSean and Victoria Gomez's Lucy - is beautiful and believable, even as she occasionally hits stumbling blocks associated with kids in Harlem - incidental murders, domestic violence and hostility from black parents. Screenwriter Pamela Gray does a terrific job avoiding the trappings of White Saviour but focusing more on how music helps children, regardless of who their teacher is.

Sometimes I felt that there were a few unnecessary subplots, such as Roberta's love life - both of her love interests fizzle out without much impact on the story. Other times, serious moments are swept over quickly, like when a father and daughter turn up to the concert announcing "they took the car and violin", which is quickly ignored. But I watched this film with a smile on my face the whole way through - just as the proud parents beamed at their underprivileged children performing beautiful music on stage. I would never have though to find such a feel-good movie in the filmography of a great horror director, but it just goes to show that just like music in the hearts of Harlem, you should never judge a book by its cover.

Meryl Streep was made for the part of Roberta Guaspari, a woman who is convinced she can teach ghetto chidren to play the violin, one of the most difficult of all instruments to learn. Against all odds, she perseveres to convince the parents of the valuable lessons that can be learned through music. If you liked Mr. Holland's Opus, chances are that you will love Music of the Heart. Meryl Streep makes this movie work although she gets some acting help from Aidan Quinn, Angela Bassett and Cloris Leachman. Even though it is a little overly dramatic at times, it still touches you with its message and its spirit.

Music of the Heart (1999)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Incredibly entertaining and heart-warming story of Roberta Guaspari (Meryl Streep), a woman who finds herself raising her two sons alone when her husband leaves her for another woman. Although Roberta sees her life falling apart, with a little help she manages to get a job in an inner city school teaching violin. Soon this small class begins to help the people in the community as well as Roberta being able to see the power of music.

MUSIC OF THE HEART was pretty much overlooked by fans of Wes Craven when it was released and, to be honest, the fans haven't bothered with it to this day, which is really too bad. I'm ashamed to admit that it took me this long to actually watch the movie because it's certainly one of the best films that Craven ever did and it's obvious just by watching it that the material was very close to his heart. Craven at one time was a teacher so it's clear that he had a passion for this material and it easily comes through his very sentimental direction.

Of course, it's certainly doesn't hurt when you've got someone like Meryl Streep delivering one of her grand performances that only she can. It's really amazing watching this actress because she makes it seem so easy yet when you really look at this character it's easy to see the challenged. This character really is all over the place throughout the movie in regards to the emotions that she displays yet Street touches on all of them. It's really amazing to see how much passion she brings to the role and you can't help but see a real violin teacher. The supporting cast features fine performances by all of the children as well as the likes of Angela Bassett, Aidan Quinn and Cloris Leachman.

The violin music itself is also extremely good and the technical side of the film is all very good. Craven certainly manages to keep the film moving at a very good pace and there's no question that there's a lot of heart in the picture and this comes through whenever a dramatic moment comes up. I'm certainly not going to spoil some of the twists that happen but they're all handled in a very tender way proving that the director was certainly able to deliver more than just horror. MUSIC OF THE HEART features a terrific performance from Streep and fine direction by Craven and it deserves to be seen.

I liked this movie very much, it reminded me of one of my very favorite movies, Mr. Holland's Opus. Meryl Streep is excellent, again, as is Aidan Quinn and the actors playing her sons. Too bad Angela Bassett and Gloria Estefan didn't have more to do in the movie. I enjoyed the story very much and I would not be surprised to see Ms. Streep rack up another Oscar nomination.