Roberta is left by her husband. She thinks she has lost everything. She is terribly depressed until she gets a job as a violin teacher in a poor black district. She has taught over one thousand students in ten years. She is praised by everyone in this poor district. But the Education Department cut the financial subsidy to the violin lessons suddenly. Roberta has to fight back. She holds a concert with other international violinists like Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman and Joshua Bell to raise funds for the violin lessons. She teaches violin with her heart. In this essay, I am going to discuss the production of this movie, and I will argue that it is only a satisfactory one.
The only touching thing in this movie is Meryl Streep's performance. Although I haven't read any critics who support Streep's Oscar nomination, and her work in this movie is even regarded as the worst in her career, I still appreciate her performance. She gets the feeling of Roberta from the heart: the time when Roberta is depressed, when she is delighted, when she is terribly angry, when she is shy. Streep does well. Maybe it is really her worst performance, it is still great! We should not expect her to give a powerful performance as in Sophie's Choice or The Bridges of Madison County in the movie with such a disastrous screenplay. If the description of the character of Roberta were better, Streep would surely be much better. But she is great enough now! In addition, Angela Bassett is also persuasive enough in her role. She acts well as Roberta's principal, as well as her friend.
Apart from Streep's performance, another thing that impresses me is the performance of the famous violinists. I have CDs of Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman and Joshua Bell. I have their photos too. But I haven't watched their performance live. I find their performances are so excellent in the movie that it is worth paying a ticket.
The main problem of the production lies in the screenplay. The movie should have two main points. One is the self-separation of the black people and the other is to play music of the heart. Unfortunately, the writer cannot get hold of these. The movie is just like a documentary, but with emotional sound effects. It tells the story of Roberta but cannot successfully indicates any messages. We cannot see the reasons for transitions of the character of Roberta from the screenplay. Why does she stand up from depression again? How does she improve the relations with students and her own children? How does she fight against the Education Department? The story does answer the above questions but not in details. That means the screenplay is not convincing enough.
The movie only contains one scene towards segregation of the black. Why is Roberta precious? She teaches everyone. Roberta successfully breaks down the wall between the black and the white, and the poor and the rich. It should be a good point but the movie puts this aside. How and why are some of the black people released from their own pressure? I don't know! Moreover, the story wants to tell us that we should use our own hearts to do anything. Like Roberta, she plays from her heart. She teaches with her heart. But this point is only introduced at the end of the movie. The writer should introduce this point at the very beginning and build it up gradually. The story of Roberta should be a great one. However, the screenplay is a bane and it spoils the whole story.
The director is of average standard. Again, the director cannot get hold of the main messages of Roberta's story. He gives a simple narrative only. In comparing with Mr. Holland's Opus, another movie with a very similar story to this one, this movie, obviously, is not an outstanding one. Mr. Holland's Opus describes more deeply about the relations among students, the teacher and his children. But Music of the Heart is only focused on Roberta herself and neglects her relations with others. The director makes this movie simple and superficial.
Other crews of the movie are also satisfactory only. Both are about musicians; Hilary and Jackie captures the power of music with wonderful film editing and sound. On the other hand, "Music of the Heart" cannot do that. Cinematography is absolutely not outstanding, neither are art directions and costumes designs. The movie cannot show the contrast between the poor black and rich white successfully. The original score cannot help the story progress while the original song is a little bit too pop and does not suit in this movie. The child actors are not capable enough to seize the feelings of their own roles. Overall, the movie is an average production only.
All in all, the movie is not a great one. The only great job is by Meryl Streep. If we forget her previous work, we will surely praise her job in this movie. She gets her twelfth Oscar nomination as Roberta and becomes the most nominated actor/actress, and she absolutely deserves this praise. I am looking forward to seeing her next performance.