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We've reviewed a number of films in which choruses are the main act (see Choruses in the Movies, Part 1 and Part 2). Recently a couple more turned up in our Netflix queue and we took the bait.
Though set worlds apart, these two films have remarkably similar plots. Both tell the story of struggling church choirs in need of inspiration—and the two men who are drawn in, against their better judgment, to do the inspiring.
In As It Is in Heaven, Daniel, a famous international orchestra conductor, returns to his boyhood home (a sleepy village in the north of Sweden) as a broken man, both physically and spiritually. Members of the local church choir discover he's in town and ask him to attend a rehearsal. Daniel's advice to them—"just listen, everything begins with listening"—is puzzling, but it piques their interest. Soon Daniel is leading the choir along an uncustomary path to find their "true voice," including handholding and belly laughing.
Preaching to the Choir tells the tale of estranged twin brothers who as adults follow radically divergent paths. The meek and reverent Wesley becomes pastor of the Harlem Baptist Church, while the defiant Teshawn becomes a hip-hop star (named Zulu) in Los Angeles. On the run from his record producer, Teshawn finds refuge in his brother's church and soon takes the helm of the faltering church choir.
The real take-away from these films, though, is not the performances, but how the small choir communities help their members and choir directors find redemption and new life.
As you might expect, the choirs in both movies eventually run afoul of their church pastors, who are both envious of the choirs' growing success and liveliness. Both choirs manage to rise above the controversy by participating in choir competitions that motivate them to take their musicmaking to the next level. The Harlem competition showcases a number of fine Gospel choir performances. The Swedish choir travels to Prague to compete and, not to give away the story, there is a transcendent choral scene that will stick with you for a long time.
The real take-away from these films, though, is not the performances, but how the small choir communities help their members and choir directors find redemption and new life. Both of the choirs are full of characters that anyone who has sung in a church choir will recognize—the elders, the ingenues, the traditionalists, the smooth operators. The Swedish choir has some additional challenges: a member who is autistic and a young woman whose abusive husband doesn't want her to sing. The Gospel choir also has Eartha Kitt, still sexy in her dotage.
I saw myself and my church choirs in these films in the tendency toward pettiness as well as the deep need that singing—especially to the Lord and especially in difficult times—touches in choir members. For all of the singers, choir is home, the place where they are welcomed and where, against all odds, musical magic happens.
As It Is in Heaven received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film in 2005 and Preaching to the Choir won three awards at the American Black Film Festival. As It Is in Heaven is clearly the best of the two, but each film has enough moments of pure choral bliss to recommend them. Watch them back-to-back at your next choir party and let us know what you think.
Just can't seem to get enough movies about choruses? Here are two more to add to your list:
The Amasong Chorus: Singing Out (2002)
When lesbian music student Kristina Boerger moved to a small Illinois college town, she didn't find a ready-made community. So she decided to create one with what she loved best: choral singing. Within a few years, what had initially been a ragtag group of volunteer vocalists had become an award-winning recording ensemble. Showing the choir's evolution into a nationally recognized performance group, The Amasong Chorus: Singing Out documents how the spirit and dedication of one person can help transform a community.
Vaya Con Dios (2002)
In bucolic northern Germany, lean times have forced a monastery to shut down and its monks to join another (hated) order in Italy. Three monks refuse to go, and hit the road with little more than their robes. Temptations await outside their cloistered world, leading to soul-searching discourses on religion and love and life in general. Luckily for them, and for us, this monastic order has specialized in choral music. When the going gets tough, they sing many a beautiful medieval and Renaissance hymn, and it is the simple mysticism of the music that carries them through. Experience the film for the story, but mostly for the songs.
