The von Trapp Family: A Life of Music

Since Rosemary Harris is one of my favorite actresses, I knew I would have no trouble making it through this movie. Even if she wasn't the actress portraying Agathe von Trapp in her elder years, I still would have made it to the end, because the story was interesting and the Nazi violence was limited. (I have absolutely had it with watching violent Nazi behavior in movies, and this may be last movie I ever watch with Nazis.)

Agathe's older teenage niece gets angry with her father at a Christmas gathering, and runs off to return to her mother's home. Agathe catches up with her at the train station and tells her niece about her life in Austria. Her mother died when she was 10, and she took over running the family home and taking care of family members, along with the help of multiple servants. She loved doing so and was very resentful when her father later married a nun novice, who was sent from a convent as a temporary governess.

Everyone familiar with "The Sound of Music" will know that nun was named Maria. This movie is a much more realistic view of Maria and Captain Von Trapp, a WWI war hero. He was not some cold disciplinarian, but a warm, loving father. Maria was not a perky person begging the Captain to show his children affection. (If you read her autobiography, she was actually married off to the Captain by her Mother Superior. She had no interest whatsoever in getting married, but intended on returning to the convent to continue her religious life.)

This movie doesn't focus much on Maria, but on Agathe and how she deals with her mother's death and the changing world outside their home. (Talking about homes, their homes are as cute and colorful as can be, and so are their clothes!) With the Nazis trying to take over Austria, life gets more dangerous and Agathe has to deal with another death of someone very close to her.

As the elder Agathe speaks at the train station, her niece realizes others have suffered much more than she has as a child of divorce. If you don't mind some of your "Sound Of Music" images being shattered, certainly watch this film for a more realistic view of the von Trapp family. Not everything in the movie happened as shown, but it's still more realistic than "The Sound of Music".

I went into this movie expecting a more historically accurate, if still sweet telling of the von Trapp story. Well, it is more historically accurate in that in keeps the original names of the children and mentions that Maria and the Captain had more children together, but other than that it is basically an abridged version of The Sound of Music.

Granted the story is told from the eldest daughter, Agathe's perspective but I still wanted to see more of their lives in America and not just what I already knew. Not only that, but the acting is so bad in some parts (particularly the scenes in the present with an elderly Agathe and her granddaughter) that I was reminded of a Hallmark movie. However, I liked Eliza Bennet as young Agathe and how she develops a relationship with her new stepmother. But it wasn't enough to save this movie.

After seeing this, I'd rather watch The Sound of Music on a continuous loop than watch this movie again.

I really enjoyed this film. Much more likely story behind the musical. I loved the way it connected with now. Agetha telling her great niece their history. It must of been a tense time just coming up to the war.

An American film about an Austrian family, which was based on a German book by Agathe von Trapp. This is a true story that takes place years before when Hitler's Nazi army marched towards the Vienna. So it is a pre world war two drama, and with its influence that focused more on the family to tell the story. This is one of the recent unexpected films, I also surprised to see how averagely it was received by the people. You don't have to accept it as the best film of the year, but it was rich in performances and screenplay with a good pace, particularly cinematography that makes it one of the best of its kind.

A young girl Agathe, who is anger over her father for not keeping his promise, decides not to sing in her life ever. But this von Trapp family is gifted with the good singing voices. In her late teenage, her father remarries and that's not accepted well by the family, but they did not show it outside. The story is not between a step-mother and her stepchildren. Its about Agathe's, her struggle after her mother's death who took all the responsibility until a new woman who entered her family as a new member. It also reveals her childhood crush, but she was never sure and how it ends was quite emotional.

How the political scenario changes in the nation affect this family takes the prime focus of the later half of the film. From lives threats to the financial struggle, how they manage to keep the family members in order was given preference. Towards the end, in the last half an hour, the film plot becomes tighter because of the new development. Though it did not turn as tense as I anticipated in those parts, and then it went back to the original timeline to bring a conclusion.

This is not a very popular film, not everybody knows its existence. For me, the trailer impressed, particularly the locations. You know I love the Alps and its lash green grass turfs. The film did not disappoint me on that, besides, the colourful costumes were another highlight. These two were the reason I loved it. I would definitely give an award for the costume designer. But once the story reached its mid part, I started to feel, deja vu. Because I did know what this film is about like was it a real or fictional. And then very soon found its clone, I mean it was another version of 'The Sound of Music'. The perspective of the storytelling was different in here.

"The one thing we have in common is that we both love the old fool."

It was told from the eldest daughter of the Von Trapp family. I don't know how much true to the book this film is, but surely this is very close to the real events than the other title I mentioned above. So, according to the main character, I mean Agathe von Trapp, the Maria who is her family's new governess was portrayed completely in a different shade than what we had impression. That's really shocking, because it proves the people's opinion differs from place to person. But the entire story was pretty much the same, except what Agathe saw with her own eyes had the main preference.

The Agathe character was played by three different people. As a young child, which is a very short span, but I liked that foundation to film to achieve its success. However the film opened around present time with the aged Agathe narrating her tale to inspire her young niece who decided to run away from home on the Christmas eve. Then the Middle aged Agathe, I mean the very younger one like in her pre 20s, which was played beautifully by a British actress that covers the majority of the film.

The rest of the cast was not bad either, but none of them was dragged into the screen like Agathe was. On the other hand, it was not a music genre as it was stated, just a drama, a good drama. But there was very little music in few occasions and all are German verse. That's the very original of this tale, while the rest of the film was translated in the English language.

Apart from this and the 1965 film, there are other versions too, but I haven't seen them. This is the most recent version and I liked it. So I think comparing between these two are useless, but I always like normal drama than the music or musical. Still, I liked both the films and if you are interested in the facts, then you should watch this, but the other one was a great entertainer. Overall, as I mentioned earlier, the perspective of the tale differs. The original source title says: Memories before and after the sound of music. That means it's definitely worth a watch even you have seen the 1965 film and/or a big fan of it. So recommended.

8/10

Rogers & Hammerstien created The Sound of Music, and it's a wonderful movie we've all seen many times, but it's not history. Here you see the National Socialists (the Nazis) as they really were-the unemployed, many of them veterans who fought in the First World War, who saw their countries-Germany and Austria-torn apart by the Treaty of Versailles.

Agathe (named Leisel in The Sound of Music) is the protagonist. She's in competition with Maria, the nanny, until Georg, a submarine captain, Catholic, and hero of the war, falls in love with her. This Maria is not the Julie Andrews version.

Their chauffeur becomes head of the Nazi Party in Salzburg. When the German Army is on Austria's border, he's the one who warns, and then threatens Captain von Trapp.

It is all very good.