BRASSED OFF 1996
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1997 Timothy Voon
3 :-) :-) :-) for the plight of the human spirit
Cast: Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald, Ewan McGregor, Stephen Thompkinson, Jim Carter. Screenplay: Mark Herman. Producer: Steve Abbott. Director: Mark Herman.
When swamped by the sorrows of life, when day becomes night, and the will to survive sinks with the burden of each breath, some of us will sing, some of us will cry and some will blow their ‘flugel'. It's during these times of turbid turmoil, when the power of music can for a brief moment, lift us above the troubled waters which is bitter with despair.
This is the story of music and the struggle of the ordinary working man to keep his job, support his family, and keep the passion for music alive. In a small Yorkshire community the coal miners work by day and play the music of ‘brass' by night. A shift of fortunes brings our mining musicians to face the threat of mine closure, the end of their livelihood and the dilemma of ‘how can we play music when there is no food on the table.'
The director Mark Herman has nicely blended the music of ‘brass' with the struggle of the human spirit. Sit and listen, and the two become one, as the miner's plight is as much felt in the music they play as seen on screen. When the corporate powers of the world attempts to bind the fight of these men, we have the transformation of emotions into music, which is the blend of ‘brass' and sorrow, and the creation of one of the most powerfully moving yet lamented sweetness that is heard.
The ending may not be as triumphant as one would have hoped for, but for a brief moment these few men soared the ‘high places' where most of us only dream. Strong performances by Pete Postlethwaite as the Brass band conductor dying of ‘Coal Miner's Lung', and good supports from Tara Fitzgerald and Ewan McGregor.
Comment: On the seventh day the trumpets sounded and the Walls of Jericho fell.
Timothy Voon e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews