No, not really, sorry.
It would have been great timing for a successful presentation, right
after John Adams getting the Pulitzer Prize and before the upcoming world
premiere of "My Father Knew Charles Ives," commissioned here by the San
Francisco Symphony, but I don't see how this film can gain acceptance,
much less achieve success.
Penny Woolcock's "complete reworking" of Adams' "The Death of Klinghoffer"
on film is arriving at the SF International Film Festival for its US
premiere in a couple of weeks with an unmusical thud.
For opera fans, this film is hard to watch. For others, it's just about
impossible. What's hard is to deal with images, the "politics" of the
film; what's impossible - especially for those not familiar with opera
- is the sight and sound of a realistic, true-life modern story being
*sung* in closeups.
How is one to suspend disbelief as images of "reality," in an authentic
setting, are superimposed on what should be artistic representation and
abstraction? It's bad enough to watch tonsils in action as a character
sings "I love you!," but imagine the extra-musical impact of an unshaven
man pointing a gun at you and singing: "America is a Jew!"
Also, there is the unfortunate timing, for the film just as it was for
the opera.
Adams' account of the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro
by Palestinian gunmen, and their murder of a wheelchair-bound American
tourist, premiered in 1991, during the Gulf War. The film version arrives
in the US, well, *now*.
However controversial it might have been more than a decade ago to try
to explain the motivation of the terrorists, in the post-9/11, war-on-Iraq
days, it's much more difficult. The opera tried to balance Israeli and
Palestinians points of view. There is no balance possible in the "hot"
visual medium where the placement of images overwhelms good intentions.
The opening scenes of Woolcock's film (in which she is credited as writer,
rather than Adams librettist Alice Goodman) contain horrifyingly brutal
actions by Jews against Palestinians at the time of the creation of the
Israeli state. It hits you in the face, you must deal with it, instead
of listening to the music.
*Later*, there are historical scenes from the Holocaust, explaining the
reasons for the settlers' desperate struggle for what they regard as
their homeland, but the opera's balanced presentation of conflicting
choruses is not possible on film or, at least, it was not the director's
choice to try for it.
The opera's original presentation, much handicapped by Peter Sellar's
overproduction, has some of Adams' best music, although right along with
vestiges of mechanical minimalist. Still, if you listen with your eyes
closed (not a practical suggestion in the movie theater), you will be
moved by the deep sorrow and a sense of utter loss in the "Chorus of
Exiled Palestinians," built to dramatic, terrible anger.
The "Chorus of Exiled Jews," parallels the mood of the enemy and yet
both music and text reflect something different, unique. The stunning
power of the concluding "Night Music," with all the turmoil, strife,
chaos of unceasing conflict demonstrates that Adams is today's premier
composer of "music for drama" or opera. But not on film. If Sellars
distracted attention with his huge, expensive set, and nonstop action,
imagine how a film could do jerk you around, in closeups.
The music performance used in the film is a studio performance by the
London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer. Sanford Sylvan
sings the title role, Yvonne Howard is Marilyn Klinghoffer, Christopher
Maltman is the ship's captain. The four Palestinians are Tom Randle,
Kamel Boutros, Leigh Melrose and Emil Marwa (in the role of Omar, voiced
by Susan Bickley).
BBC commissioned "Klinghoffer" as a part of an opera series to be broadcast
on Channel 4. Among others are Ades' "Powder Her Face" (where close-ups
should be just as intriguing and controversial as in the Adams opera),
"Owen Wingrave," "Romeo and Juliet," and "Death of a Princess."
Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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