The major reason I love Spielberg's Empire of the Sun is the orchestral music... and this finale caps everything I love about the film:
Can you feel the bass of the timpani? The exultant melody of the oboe and French horns? The majesty of the trombones? The purity of the voices? This should be the ideal music to be played in churches, but because of post-"Vatican 2", I have to suffer with dirge-like Tagalog drivel like "Hindi Kita Malilimutan" or the Ilonggo mass songs penned by a deaf-mute vagrant from the Plaza that are being sung on off-key notes at the Cathedral.
If you love this kind of music, there's this French film I stumbled upon in one of my Quiapo raids. It's entitled "Le Choristes" or "The Chorus". It's one of those foreign films hailed by the world over which ordinary Filipinos will never see in the local sinehan. It's not even a high brow film but more akin to our own "Mga Munting Tinig."
7 comments:
they screened les choristes in the cine europe fes a few years back. does that count?
thanks for the clip on the empire of the sun music. very edifying and relaxing at the end of a long day like this one :)
yup, i love empire of the sun and its music. you might also want to check out carl orff's carmina burana. its syncopated rhythm and contrasts in dynamics really rock.
les choristes is one of my fave french films. I've actually memorized its signature songs "vois sur ton chemin," and "cerf-volant, volant au vent." i sing them whenever i feel sad.
it was shown during the cine europa fest and was also released here as a regular film but it only ran for a week, i think.
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sparks: yes they count... wish they would have more of those
rina: thanks rina...
slim: orff's carmina burana is very powerful.. i sometimes play it to full blast during the morning shower... pure adrenaline rush
kartik: thanks :) galing :)
Don't blame Vatican II for the awful music at average parish Masses. The Council actually stated:
The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.
But you're right, the average music in Pinoy parishes is drivel. But I doubt if the situation in the pre-concilliar Church was any better. The Council back then merely endorsed a growing trend in the Church to rediscover its lost treasures through the Liturgical Movement.
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