MUSIC OF THE HEART by Wes Craven
by Andre Soares
Music of the Heart (1999)
Direction: Wes Craven. Screenplay: Pamela Gray. Cast: Meryl Streep, Angela Bassett, Aidan Quinn, Cloris Leachman, Gloria Estefan, Kieran Culkin, Charlie Hofheimer, Michael Angarano, Jay O. Sanders
TO MAM, WITH LOVE
Wes Craven, the director of the Scream franchise and of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, is hardly the kind of filmmaker from whom one would expect a syrupy motion picture about a determined violin teacher who wins the hearts and minds of her inner-city school students. Yet, Craven is the man responsible for Music of the Heart, a film completely devoid of slashed faces, lethal stabbings, and deadly fingernails. Instead, this distaff version of Mr. Holland’s Opus — with touches of To Sir with Love — offers loads of sentiment, some classical music (violinists Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, and Mark O’Connor appear as themselves), plenty of bad pop tunes, and a superb performance by Meryl Streep, as a teacher dedicated to the cause of maintaining classical arts as part of the public school curriculum.
There is much to carp about Music of the Heart, from the misuse of Angela Bassett’s considerable talents to the overabundance of obnoxious pop rhythms in a film that extols the immeasurable worth of classical music. But when Meryl Streep is on screen, nothing else matters. Not the cornball sequence in which she must audition for a job as a teacher; not the fact that the youths in her neighborhood are as threatening as the Our Gang kids; or even the miscalculation (in terms of dramatic coherence) of having a much too sympathetic actress portray a character — inspired by real-life music teacher Roberta Guaspari — who could at best be described as challenging. In fact, Streep’s Roberta is so eccentrically likable that when her students complain to their parents about her rudeness, they come across as whiny little wimps.
A master at conveying thoughts and emotions by means of a surreptitious look or a slight variation in her tone, Streep single-handedly holds together Music of the Heart. Aidan Quinn provides solid support in his few on-screen moments, but the movie truly belongs to its star. The multiple award-winning actress makes every intonation, every action, every reaction seem effortless and perfectly natural, invariably delivering her well-rehearsed lines as if they had just popped in her head. The mechanics of her acting technique are there, but they are like invisible strings that each time put her right on the mark.
Craven realizes that Streep is the heart and soul of his film. Thus, his camera lingers on the actress, allowing her to dominate nearly every scene. Very few performers could have managed to carry an old-fashioned sudser like Music of the Heart for more than two hours, but Meryl Streep can — and does.
Synopsis:
Following an acrimonious divorce, Roberta Guaspari (Meryl Streep) moves with her two teenage sons to East Harlem, where she will be teaching music — more specifically, violin playing — at a local school. Initially, school officials and some parents are reluctant to let the students spend time playing fiddles, but eventually Roberta’s classes prove to be an important artistic and social outlet for those kids.
When budget cuts threaten to end her highly successful classes, Roberta pleads with the headmistress (Angela Bassett) to let her continue with her work. Unable to convey the importance of art for her students’ cultural and social growth, Roberta must find outside funding to support her classes. A recital at Carnegie Hall might be the ticket to win both the much-needed monetary assistance and the respect that the classical arts deserve in school curricula.
DVD:
The 2-disc DVD set of Music of the Heart offers:
- Audio commentary by director Wes Craven and producer Marianne Maddalena
- The 77-minute Academy Award nominated documentary Small Wonders (1996), which inspired the Wes Craven film
- The featurette: "Behind-the-scenes at Carnegie Hall: The Bach Double Concerto"
- The making-of featurette "Scoring Session: Behind-the-scenes"
- Deleted footage with commentary by director Wes Craven
- Gloria Estefan and N’Sync’s music video"Music of My Heart"
- Deleted scenes
A Miramax Home Entertainment release.
Notes:
Madonna was originally cast in the role of Roberta Guaspari, but left the project because of "creative differences" with director Wes Craven.
Music of the Heart was inspired by the Academy Award nominated documentary Small Wonders (1995).
Opus 118, the violin program that funded Roberta Guaspari’s classes following her Carnegie Hall appearance, continued throughout the 1990s. Funds were generated via concerts and recitals. In 1999, while Music of the Heart was in production, Guaspari’s job was reinstated by the New York City Board of Education.
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