Okay, here's the deal. It wouldn't be prudent of me to deny the fact that, if there's a discussion of award-winning actresses, Meryl Streep's name is going to pop up more than a few times. I mean, let's face it. Whether you admire her acting talent, as I do, or find her a bit annoying sometimes, as I also do, she's quite possibly the most talented actress of the past 20 years.
Now, I freely admit that she bugs the living tar out of me more often than not. Why? Well, it boils down to a question of that very talent. How can the woman who managed to tighten the throat of even this ol' hard-boiled country doctor in Sophie's Choice be the same woman that was so oddly cast in The River Wild? How did the woman that made audiences hate her and feel sorry for her in Kramer Vs. Kramer decide to go off and make She-Devil, which, for my money, could be the dumbest decision made by an actress since Jane Fonda flew to North Vietnam.
I've always found it humorous when people blast her, saying she can't act unless she's doing some sort of accent. How, exactly, can you condemn someone for doing vocal work to add as much authenticity to a character as possible? Remember, this is the same business that let Kevin Costner be the only person in England without an English accent in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Furthermore, this is the same business that still allows anyone playing a German character to sound like he just strolled over from a "Hogan's Heroes" episode.
Enough of that, what I'm here to talk about is Miss Meryl's newest film, Music of the Heart. Nothing so exotic as the plains of Africa, or the concentration camps of Nazi Germany here. Meryl stays home for this one, and works with an odd assortment of talent that includes such names as Wes Craven and Gloria Estefan, to make a surprisingly good movie.
Meryl stars as Roberta Guaspari, a divorced woman with two kids to raise and little or no job readiness to help her. Roberta gave up a career in music to be a full-time parent, and, now that her hubby has split the scene, she's just winging it. She meets up with an old friend (Aidan Quinn), who in turn introduces her to a school principal (Angela Bassett) in East Harlem. Despite some flak from the tenured music teacher, Roberta gets a job offer to teach violin.
Now, as you might guess, this program doesn't exactly go over like gangbusters. The students are less than thrilled with the idea of learning violin, and the parents are even less thrilled, some to the point of turning over the race card as means to fight the idea. They think their kids have "better things to do than learn dead white man's music." But Roberta sticks to her guns, and slowly, her persistence wins out. Then, when the program is considered a success at the school, along comes the school board trying to slash the arts funding, deciding Roberta's kids aren't worth the expense.
As many of you may have noticed, this whole thing sounds remarkably familiar. Good for you! Do a little shuffling with gender and story details, and you have Mr. Holland's Opus. But, like that movie, this thing hurdles the clichés and predictable plotline, still managing to win you over. And, despite its goodness, it almost implodes on itself a few times, thanks to some trite and syrupy sequences.
But here's a catch that no one was counting on. Those clichés are based on true events. This real-life story was the basis for an Oscar-winning documentary a few years go called Small Wonders. That film told the story of Guaspari, her students, and her battle to save the program.
Meryl is, for the umpteenth time, at her best here. She's captivating, radiant, and clearly thriving in the center ring. She takes a near-standard role and spins it into a colorful and captivating character. It'd be easy to give Meryl all the credit, but no film performance is created in a vacuum. Meryl's director here is a man I've worshipped for years, for his work in a completely different genre. Ladies and gentlemen, Wes Craven directed this movie.
Yes, THAT Wes Craven. Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, Last House on the Left Wes Craven. I've long believed that you cannot be that successful a horror film director without knowing how to build a good film, no matter what genre. Some "cultured" idiots like to trash horror directors, dismissing them as hacks who rely on shock value and the easy praise of the teen audience. Yet these same people are quick to exclude names like Val Lewton, Tod Browning, and James Whale from that list, because these men were "artists." While I agree with the worth of those three classic directors, let's not be so all-fired fast to write off the other directors. You say horror directors can't make "real" movies...? Congrats, people, you just wrote off Hitchcock, Coppola, Speilberg, and Demme, just to name a few. I've said it before; I'll say it again: it takes more ability to truly scare people than it does to just tell a story. Wes Craven always had the ability to tell a good story, he just did it with demonic sleep-dwelling demons, psychotic escaped prisoners, and twisted teenagers. When he eventually got the urge to tell a story of triumph and overcoming the odds, he did it, and did it right.
While the supporting cast does a pretty good job, it's obvious that they are just that -- support only. Even Bassett, who usually shines no matter how big the role, is restrained in her role as the principal. Quinn, other than being Mr. Eyes, could've mailed his bit in. And, while Estefan's role is not one that was garnered for a star turn, she does a credible job with what she's given. To be blunt about it, she's no threat to anyone right now as far as acting goes, but hey, I've seen other singers who decided to be actors do a lot worst. Let us remember, dear people, that Madonna did Shanghai Surprise and Who's That Girl long before she did Evita.
Quick soapbox moment, folks. This is the second film to address the issue of educational arts funding. I don't know how you feel about the whole issue, but to me, a kid is only getting half an education if he's only getting the three "R's". I fully understand the need to stress the basics, but isn't aesthetic education as important? How good is a strong education in math, if a kid can't see it applied conceptually, in music or in the artistry of architecture? How good is studying English if a kid reads Hamlet but never experiences it onstage? I still wish the line from Mr. Holland's Opus were true, when Holland spoke of seeing the day someone actually cut the football budget in high schools to make room for a music appreciation class. When public schools decide to wake up and see what's important, a well-rounded education or a winning sports program, then maybe, there will be hope for public schools.
Let us now stand and sing Hymn 122 as I pass the collection plate.
Sermon over....
Folks, listen up. There have been more "artistic" movies in the last few months, challenging us with twisting scripts, amazing visual effects, and combinations of both. Why not sit back and see a good story, starring a great actress, directed by a fine director? Music of the Heart is a winner, and it gets the job done. It tells a great story of overcoming odds, and it makes a few points along the way. And it does both with a charm a lot of movies seem to have forgotten.
Image copyright Miramax Films.
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in for observation