The Song of Names

What a great movie, believable and well scripted. Both lead characters, both young and old are portrayed really well. A good storyline and history. If you enjoy movies relating to WW2 you will find this a touching drama. The musical score is beautiful.

Yes, this is a wonderful and memorable film. The director, Francois Girard, and, I suspect, the same Canadian production company were involved in the 1998 RED VIOLIN. Like that film it takes place over multiple time periods, in this film clearly stated to be 1951, 1986, and the earliest, unidentified time which can be inferred to be sometime between March and September 1939. The scene shifts back and forth a good deal and some critics found this confusing and destructive of continuity but I found no difficulty in following the story line. Memory is not linear and orderly but rather fragmented and out of sequence, particularly when dealing with highly charged emotionally traumatic experiences. This is an exceptionally intelligent screenplay where not everything has to be spelled out. It's true that a key plot point mystery is fairly predictable. Yet the story builds to a wrenching climax in a way you don't see every day in the movies. Tim Roth plays well against type as a quiet, introspective Brit. The score composer, Howard Shore, was involved in composing the impressive music in the Lord of the Rings and does an award-deserving job here. I rate the film at 3.5/4 stars. Strongly recommended for everybody, especially any serious music student as well as anyone of Jewish background, particularly of GenX through to Millennials.

"The Song of Names" is a film with Clive Owen and Tim Roth elegantly directed by Francois Girard. It tells the story of two young boys who develop a friendship over a shared love of music. Young Polish violin prodigy Dovidl Rapoport comes to live with the family of Martin Simmonds in the days preceding the German bombings of London, England during WWII.

The story continues showing different periods of Dovidl and Martin's lives from adolescence to mature adulthood. With the excellent acting, screenplay by Jeffrey Caine and Girard's conscientious direction, the film is a gift to the viewing public!

The Song of Names, a way to remember the names of the dead from the holocaust, is poignant and deeply moving. This film did not do it justice.

Dov, the boy genius from Warsaw is left by his father in London, under the care of an English non-Jewish family, where he can continue to hone his talent of playing the violin. The father returns to Poland to rejoin the rest of his family on the brink of the breakout of world war two.

We are then left with Dov, his journey of life and that of his English "brother" Martin.

Unfortunately, Dov is never very likeable at any of the ages portrayed in the film and to be honest, neither is Martin nor Martin's wife, Helen.

The suffering of those around them, Martin's father, the rabbi, the Jewish survivors in London, the polish girl in Warsaw and Joseph, the other polish violinist, all of whom we only get fleeting glances of, is more affecting than that of the central characters.

I simply don't know what to make of this film.

Watch it by all means, for the music alone and to understand the meaning of the title and maybe you will have a different reaction than I did.

This is a fictional story but is built on the realities of the 1940s when Jews in Poland were persecuted and many murdered by the Nazis. The title of the movie is a reference to a way to remember the dead until they could all be written down. They created a Song of Names and in this story is said to take 5 days to sing completely.

The story spans about 1939 to about 1986. It starts with a young boy (David), a violin prodigy, who is placed with a British family in London to be able to study violin while his family return to Poland. He and the family's young son (Martin) eventually become almost like brothers.

In 1951 when the boys are in their early 20s, and David is set up for a concert, he doesn't show up with no clue what happened. Then 35 years later Martin is judging a musical competition and sees a young violinist with a mannerism just like David's, that sparks his search for David.

The reasons are complex and Martin eventually learns what happened. It is a good story that ultimately relies on strong family and friendship bonds.

Good movie, my wife and I watched it at home on BluRay from our public library.