The Death of Klinghoffer

Channel 4 in the UK does some gutsy stuff and this certainly qualifies, inflaming Jews, Palestinians and Americans all in one film. It is a powerful document but I don't think it contributes anything musically. The lyrics are ponderous and pretentious. The music is banal and without emotion. But the story is well told and the film creatively, expansively (and expensively) done. But as an opera... Well, Puccinni would have done much better...

I just saw the premiere at Sundance 1/23/2003. This film is an adaptation of Adams' wonderful opera of the same name about the 1985 takeover of the Achille Lauro cruise ship and the death of one of the passengers. The film's music is exceptional as conducted by the composer with the London Symphony Orchestra. The singers are more than adequate in this difficult score and the character of the singing is revelatory as most of it was recorded live on a cruise ship. The choruses were particularly moving.

The action was not filmed on stage, but on a real cruise ship and the suspension of disbelief is remarkable. The acting is in large part astounding as events and arias pass and the interactions between characters are completely believable, despite that they are singing--it's as if this is a view into an alternate world, where music and song are ubiquitous and this is a document--a profound documentary at that--of those few days aboard the ship. Beyond that, director Woolcock uses flashbacks, flashforwards, and archival footage of Palestinian and Zionist history in the years after World War II to create a truly epic and humane account of the tragic events that could lead two peoples to initiate such acts of hatred and violence against each other.

The film is an amazing adaptation of an opera that everyone should see if they are a lover of music and life--Adams and Woolcock have done a beautiful thing in making this work (hopefully) more accessible to everyone. In the program for the film it said something like, 'the film is sure to stir up heated discussion'--I believe the film will do something far more important: it will put to rest some of the questions and misunderstandings most of us have of the world and her peoples.

Although I have enjoyed the few live and movie productions I have attended, I am not an opera fan, but as a musician I can appreciate its place as ultimate theater/music/art. As such, most operas - even made into movies - tend to feel like distant spectacles; we are the audience, perhaps invited on the stage, but still as spectators. This movie, however, offers us an opportunity to live within the action, even feeling part of the drama. The music is easy to listen to, the settings are realistic, and the singers are obviously masters of their craft; so whatever you feel about the plot or its treatment of the events/issues, I think you will get something positive from spending 2 hours on the Achille Lauro.

Director Penny Woolcock deserves an immense amount of credit for providing a vibrant, emotionally expansive if not altogether dramatically effective 2003 screen translation of what was likely the last decade's most controversial opera. What began as an elaborate oratorio in 1991 was renowned composer John Adams' highly emotional "The Death of Klinghoffer", a controversial work with even greater political and emotional resonance post-9/11. The story concerns itself with the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro by members of the Palestinian Liberation Front. It is related in a series of arias and recitatives by critical participants in the situation - the ship's captain and first officer; the four terrorists; and key passengers who were held captive over three days, in particular, the Klinghoffers who were celebrating their 36th wedding anniversary.

Adams' familiar post-minimalist music turns out to be surprisingly compatible with the true-life story, as the propulsive vocal parts blend well with Alice Goodman's politically charged libretto. Sung off-screen to vivid montages, the beautiful choruses provide effective bridges and a broader context to the immediate drama of the opera, an aspect that was likely left quite abstract when sung onstage. The other powerful dimension Woolcock brings to this adaptation is the use of real locations and archived footage to make relevant the opera's overall abstraction to the viewer. This is a brave move since the political situation suddenly becomes actualized with the film. As it turns out, it is a dramatically smart move given that Woolcock has a strong cinematic sense of the story, for instance, she apparently cut twenty minutes of the music to make the story flow better, repositions powerful solo arias to enhance the characters' interactions, and adds often traumatizing historical footage and faux-news reports to give the story even greater realism. Solely from that standpoint, this may be the best screen adaptation of a major opera I have ever seen.

The biggest challenge of this production, however, is Goodman's libretto, which seems intent on supporting both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For instance, the opera takes the bold step of putting Israelis and Nazis on the same plain by comparing images of a post-Holocaust concentration camp with those of a mass grave from the 1982 slaughter at the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps. In making such an exerted effort to share the motivation of the terrorists as well as the suffering of the crew and passengers, the drama becomes somewhat diluted by the multiple perspectives. By contrast, look at Paul Greengrass' recent "United 93" for a successful example of shifting varying viewpoints without losing the overall dramatic momentum. Some contend that the opera takes discernible political sides, though I think it's a mistake to brand the work as purely pro-Palestinian since the Klinghoffers are portrayed sympathetically if rather one-dimensionally as people caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. In particular, the execution of husband Leon, paralyzed from a stroke and wheelchair-bound, is shown shockingly as the act of a thug more than that of a political terrorist.

Fortunately, Woolcock has recruited world-class singers who are able to tone down their singing for the cameras. The standouts are baritone Christopher Maltman as the conflicted captain; fellow baritone Leigh Melrose, who makes the macho posturing of the aptly named terrorist, "Rambo", feel palpable; and in the film's only comic moment, soprano Kirsten Blasé, who makes her cowering showgirl a convincing media whore. Surprisingly, the Klinghoffers are not given arias to sing until near the end, but mezzo-soprano Yvonne Howard is dynamic as Marilyn especially as she confronts the captain. Baritone Sanford Sylvan, a familiar Adams regular who played Chou En-Lai in "Nixon in China", has one powerful aria sung as a voice-over to an extended, haunting image of his dead body sinking deeper into the ocean. In another interesting voice-over done to accommodate the original opera's doubling of roles, a non-singing actor, Emil Marwa, plays the most vulnerable terrorist, Omar, while mezzo Susan Bickley sings his inner thoughts. The 2003 DVD has a surprising number of extras for an opera production, including a commentary track from Woolcock and various cast members. The best extra is an interesting making-of documentary, "Filming 'The Death of Klinghoffer'", which includes tandem interviews with Adams and Woolcock and goes into the major aspects of putting the challenging production together.

Bad script, bad music and really bad acting. I could not stop watching this movie, because it was so bad. A movie adaptation of an opera about the terrorist take-over of the Achille Lauro was a really stupid idea in the first place. This movie rates in my all-time worst movies ever made. 1. The Thing With Two Heads 2. The Death of Klinghoffer 3. Showgirls 4. Mailman etc. What really amazes me, is that this movie was ever made. What were the producers thinking? The sequence of the murdered man sinking was comical, at best. I will put this on my Net Flix list so that I can have some friends over to watch this awful movie and relish it's absolute stupidity.