MUSIC OF THE HEART A film review by David N. Butterworth Copyright 1999 David N. Butterworth
** (out of ****)
First let me dispense the answers to those burning questions which have been dogging you for weeks now.
Yes, "Music of the Heart" is directed by Wes Craven, the veteran shockmeister responsible for over 20 horror films including such blockbusters as the "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Scream" series ("Scream 3," incidentally, is due out February 4th). "Music of the Heart," although (unintentionally) scary at times, is his first radical departure from the genre.
Yes, Meryl Streep wasn't the original choice to play Roberta Guaspari, the substitute teacher who revitalized an East Harlem public school and many of its students with her successful violin program (when no one wanted one) and the subject of Craven's new film. Madonna was the director's first pick, but she bailed out early citing "creative differences."
And yes, singer Gloria Estefan makes her acting debut in the film but blink and you'll miss her. Ms. Estefan spends more time nibbling on a carrot than she does acting, and her name up there alongside Streep's, Aidan Quinn's, and Angela Bassett's is like saying Kevin Costner starred in "The Big Chill."
If the storyline sounds at all familiar to you (and you'd be in the minority if it does), then that's because Roberta's success story was profiled in an Oscar®-nominated documentary from 1996 entitled "Small Wonders." I suspect few people saw that film, but someone clearly felt that this story was interesting enough to turn it into a large-scale Hollywood product with brand-name stars and a new song by Gloria to send the Miami Sound Machine groupies skipping off to Tower Records after the show.
"Let's dramatize it" someone must have said after seeing "Small Wonders." Unfortunately they did everything but.
The main problem with "Music of the Heart" is that it's devoid of drama, making it an extremely difficult film to pigeonhole. Nothing much really happens, no one tries to prevent it from happening, and when it does happen it's not very interesting anyway.
Streep, as you'd expect, is pretty good in the role, here passing on her usual accent-of-the-week. Streep's messy perm and bloodshot eyes aren't exactly flattering to Ms. Guaspari, but I suspect they're closer to the real Roberta than anything Madonna might have thrown her way. Quinn, on the other hand, seems strangely out of whack (he provides Roberta with the obligatory love interest, is sent packing halfway through the film, and then, surprise surprise, reappears for the big Carnegie Hall finale). And it's a pity to see the skilled Angela Bassett ("How Stella Got Her Groove Back," "Waiting to Exhale") stuck in a stock high school principal role.
That big Carnegie Hall fiddlefest, by the way, is shot with an incredible lack of flair by someone clearly more comfortable orchestrating decapitations and disembowelments. Even the presence of violin greats Isaac Stern and Itzhak Perlman can't pep it up any.
On the plus side, the kids who learn about the finer points of a violin bow have real charisma and with a little more drama than "Sorry, I forgot my violin today Miss Guaspari," "Music of the Heart" might have scored some much-needed points. Instead, it's a poor choice for Craven, an odd choice for Estefan, and a particularly good choice for Madonna.
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@dca.net
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