MOVIES AT LA PLAZA — “THE CHORAL”: FROM SINGING TO WAR

Movie Review by Sergio Martinez

It is 1916, and the echoes of war are increasingly tragic in the small town of Ramsden, Yorkshire, England. At the beginning of the film, we see Lofty (Oliver Briscombe), a young man tasked with delivering telegrams communicating the death in combat of sons, boyfriends, or husbands. He and his friend Ellis (Taylor Uttley) are not yet 18, so war is still a foreign experience for them.

Dr. Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes) imposes
his own style to the choir

The conflict, however, is affecting another activity in the community: its Choral Society is running out of male members; even the choir director enlists in the army. The chairman of the society, city councilman and owner of the city's main company, Bernard Duxbury (Roger Allam), takes it upon himself to find the right person to conduct the choir: Dr. Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes), who initially rejects the proposal but then accepts, on the condition that he will do the job in his own style. This causes some apprehension among the more traditional members, especially when, for reasons of nationalism, it is decided not to sing Bach's St. Matthew’s Passion, opting instead to stage a work by a British composer: Sir Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius.

Mary (Amara Okereke) comes
from the Salvation Army

The choir acquires new voices; among the female voices, Mary (Amara Okereke) stands out, a young black woman who is a member of the Salvation Army, with whose band she used to sing. Among the new male voices is Clyde (Jacob Dudman), a young soldier who has returned to the village with an amputated arm. The choir director has given Gerontius a new focus, originally based on a poem by Cardinal Newman about the soul's journey to paradise, but, in the context of the war and the village's young people who have died in it, it takes on a very different meaning.

Clyde (Jacob Dudman) came back
from the front, after losing an arm

On the battlefield, meanwhile, there is no progress on the trench lines, and the war drags on, requiring new contingents of soldiers. In that same year, 1916, the British Parliament passes a law on compulsory military service. All able-bodied men over the age of 18 are called up; for the young men of the Ramsden Choral Society, everything will change: singing will be a thing of the past, replaced by military uniforms and weapons, and with it, uncertainty about what fate awaits them.

This film, directed by Nicholas Hytner, with a screenplay by Alan Bennett and musical arrangements by George Fenton, is a powerful condemnation of war at a time when such condemnations are sorely needed. For this reason, in addition to its artistic merit, we recommend this film without reservation.

In Montreal, it is being shown in its original English version and with French subtitles.