Orchestra Rehearsal
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DVD details
Actor: Balduin Baas, Clara Colosimo, Elizabeth Labi, Ferdinando Villella, Ronaldo BonacchiDVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Italian (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, HiFi Sound, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 70 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-01-14
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Fox Lorber
DVD Reviews of Orchestra Rehearsal
DVD Review: Underestimated Gem
Summary: 4 Stars
In general I do not have much affinity with the work of Fellini as I rarely feel a connection to the worlds and thoughts he puts in his films. There are two exceptions to this (of about ten or so movies of his I've seen): "Amarcord" and "Prova d'Orchestra". The latter movie, made in 1978, was originally meant for tv, hence probably its limited length of around 70 minutes. It was the last movie Fellini made with legendary composer Nino Rota, who died a year after. As the subject matter involves an orchestra rehearsal one can safely assume that Rota's involvement in this film was more than average.
"Prova d'Orchestra" among many critics is considered a 'lesser' Fellini, a qualification that I, needless to say, don't agree with, but certainly it's a movie that has undeservedly receded into obscurity somewhat, speculations as to the reasons why later, but first a short synopsis:
It takes place in an old oratory where graves of popes and bishops have received a cool little spot. An elderly caretaker, copyist more accurately, narrates apparently to us, the viewer, at the start of the movie about the splendor of the place in the old days. Nowadays though things are different: it's a space for an orchestra rehearsal and as it turns out the old man wasn't talking to us, but to a camera team making a documentary about the orchestra that turns to interviewing individual members of the orchestra that drop in for the rehearsal one at a time and for the most part testify of their love for their instrument and its importance within the orchestra as a whole.
Oddly enough there's also a union rep present who keeps reassuring the musicians that it's ok to give interviews, but that they won't receive any extra financial benefits for doing so. Then he turns back to hectic phone calls to get five trumpet players, even though the orchestra only needs one.
Finally the conductor arrives, who has a rather pronounced German accent, who starts with the rehearsal with positive confidence, but soon starts to lose patience with his musicians and lashes out more and more with vehemence to such an extent, that the union rep notifies him that he has insulted the orchestra and that as a result a punitive measure has been decided on and the musicians will be granted an immediate break double in length, which is what happens.
Back in his private room the conductor complains about the role of music in general and the lacking work ethic of his musical subjects in particular.
After the break the orchestra revolts and as a representative of the 'ruling class' the conductor is their main target. The world quite literally is bent out of shape (unforgettable scene) and tentatively conductor and orchestra try to retrace their steps to find a way to perform music again, but Fellini makes abundantly clear that most likely it's simply the start of a new cycle which will share the fate of the previous attempt.
It is not surprising that the entire movie is a quite obvious metaphor for the socio-political situation in Italy of the seventies, which indeed is not what fascinated me so much about this movie, even though it's realized in such a touching and amusing manner. The power of this movie to me lay in the way Fellini with some broad and general strokes of a pen was able to sketch characters that are obviously allegorical and so identifiable. As a music lover I so much enjoyed Rota's farewell to the silver screen and his music in splendid symbiosis with the images made me laugh so much at times it brought tears to my eyes.
As I saw the movie again fairly recent after a twenty plus years hiatus it was so refreshing to view such an "old school" work of cinema, which exudes a particular atmosphere and represents and honors a personal authenticity by its maker that can be rarely experienced these days.
Why this movie is considered to be a lesser Fellini? One usually hears complaints concerning the rather simplistic and superficial layer of meaning of this movie. This aspect to me is secondary and I simply enjoyed a completely outrageous movie in a dramatic and visual style which invites you as a viewer to step into a world that rips you out of your comfy chair and makes you eagerly anticipate every next unexpected minute which is such a breath of fresh air in this endless parade of predictable fair that generally spoken dull our cinemas today.
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