Les Choristes film review revised

nobody@vox.com(squints) — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 22:15:17 -0500

Foreign Film Review – Les Choristes

You may have noticed that Hollywood has been taking quite a plunge in the quality and diversity of their movies. It seems as though they are all about either the end of the world, people getting pregnant, or anything involving guns and fighting. For example, “The Day After Tomorrow”, “I am Legend”, “Juno”, “Live Free and Die Hard”, “The Bourne Ultimatum”, and the highly acclaimed “Knocked Up”. Well unlike the movies us Americans are making, people in other countries such as France, Spain, and China are making movies that are worth the wallet draining expenses the theaters steal from us and they could actually affect our lives in ways unimaginable. Foreign films such as “Amelie” (France), “Pan's Labyrinth”(Spain) and “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”(China). All were nominated and won many awards, the critics seemed to love them as well. And each was not your everyday run of the mill Hollywood blockbuster. Each has a deeper meaning that is just awaiting to be discovered by it's viewers.

“Les Choristes”, known as “The Chorus” in English, is a French film about a failed former music teacher, Clement Mathieu, who becomes a Prefect at a boarding school for troubled boys. Upon meeting the boys Clement did not think they seemed entirely problematic. But as time progressed and he came to know the environment of the school, other employees, the boys, and the devil of a headmaster he realized how troubled the boys really were, and the reasons of their insolence. It was not long until he learned the course of punishment of the school, which did not seem right to him at all, so he encompasses new methods that could change the boy's lives and the lives of others forever. These new methods however do not grow seemingly well with the Headmaster, Rachin. Rachin believes in harsh punishment, physically beating, malnourish, and solitary confinement while negotiating, and helping is more Mathieu's style. While watching the movie it sort of draws you in and makes you feel as though you are a part of it all. It plays with your senses and emotions throughout the entire 94 minutes. One moment you will be filled with happiness, another you will be grabbing for the tissues, then you will be appalled and terribly angry with one of the characters. All together this movie was beautifully made mixing in both dramatic and comedic elements that balance the film and gives it the potential to be on many top 10 movies lists throughout the world.

It was disappointing to learn at first dialog that the whole film was in French. However, as the movie progressed the subtitles became a part of the movie it became much more fluent and less a chore to read the subtitles. If the movie was made or even just dubbed in English, it would not have given off the feeling it did and the meaning would have changed completely.

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Les Choristes film review for journalism

nobody@vox.com(squints) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:28:45 -0500

Foreign Film Review – Les Choristes

You may have noticed that Hollywood has been taking quite a plunge in the quality and diversity of their movies. It seems as though they are all about either the end of the world, people getting pregnant, or anything involving guns and fighting. For example, “The Day After Tomorrow”, “I am Legend”, “Juno”, “Live Free or Die Hard”, “The Bourne Ultimatum”, and the highly acclaimed “Knocked Up”. Well unlike the movies us American's are making people in other countries such as France, Spain, and China. Such as “Amelie”(France), “Pan's Labyrinth”(Spain) and “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”(China). All were nominated and won many awards, the critics seemed to love them as well. And each was not your everyday run of the mill Hollywood blockbuster. Each has a deeper meaning that is just awaiting to be discovered by it's viewers.

“Les Choristes”, known as “The Chorus” in English, is a French film about a failed former music teacher, Clement Mathieu, who becomes a Prefect at a boarding school for troubled boys. Upon meeting the boys Clement did not think they seemed entirely problematic. But as time progressed and he came to know the environment of the school, other employees, the boys, and the devil of a headmaster he realized how troubled the boys really were, and the reasons of their insolence. It was not long until he learned the course of punishment of the school in which he he encompassed new methods which could change the boy's lives, and the lives of others forever. These new methods however do not grow seemingly well with the Headmaster, Rachin. Their ideas of how the school should be run and how the boys should be treated clash like oil and water. Rachin believes in harsh punishment, physically beating, undernourishment and solitary confinement while negotiating, and helping is more Mathieu's style. While watching the movie it sort of draws you in and makes you feel as though you are a part of it all. It plays with your senses and emotions all throughout the entire 94 minutes. One moment you'll be happy and joyful, another you'll be grabbing for the tissues, and another you'll be completely angry and horrified by one of the characters, and it's usually Rachin's fault.

It was disappointing to learn at first dialog that the whole film was in French. But as the movie progressed the subtitles became a part of the movie. If the movie was done in English it would not have given off the feeling it did and the meaning would have changed completely.

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Les Choristes film review revised

Les Choristes film review for journalism