"Symphony of Mad Men" is a German musical drama film, also known as "Symphony of Mad Men", directed by Thor Sahawi, starring Peter Simoniszek, Gauzi Otto, Bibi Starring Anna Berglo, it is adapted from real events. The plot tells the story of the well-known German conductor Edward accepting the task of organizing a team including the Israeli and Palestinian Youth Symphony Orchestra in order to promote harmonious coexistence between ethnic groups. However, he soon discovered that this was a difficult task. It is an extremely difficult challenge. In addition to the constant conflicts between the members, the strange vision of the outside world puts heavy pressure on them to realize their dreams.
"Symphony of Madman" Film Review: Finding the Perfect Ending in Imperfection
Music and songs have always had a special power, from "Clang Rose" to "Little From "Love Song" to "My Most Beautiful Girl" to "30 Minutes Before Saying Goodbye" and other musical movies, we can all see the characters being inspired by the songs, and then find their own life path and gain the positive power to face the future bravely. But even so, "Symphony of Mad Men", a musical film with a symphony orchestra as its core, also uses the territorial conflicts of countries and the long-term accumulated hatred between people to tell us that not everything in this world is perfect. So simple and beautiful.
Are the reviews of "Symphony of Madman" good?
In 1999, German conductor Daniel Barenbon founded the "West-Eastern Ensemble Orchestra" composed of young Israeli and Arab musicians, hoping to use music to eliminate conflicts between countries and ethnic groups and heal them. The hatred between the country and the family has been fueled by racial and religious differences for generations. Although it initially aroused strong backlash from people on both sides, after years of hard work and changes in time and space, it has successfully allowed listeners to enjoy music while also arousing people's attention to related issues in various countries. However, despite the seemingly happy ending, "Symphony of Madman" adapted from this true story only allows us to see the cruel first half.
Just looking at the title of "Symphony of Madmen", I originally thought that the movie was like "Attack of the Drummer" and "Crazy for the Piano", which tells the story of musicians obsessed with art and approaching madness in pursuit of perfection. story, I didn’t expect the subject matter to be so hardcore. It not only uses the music theme of the symphony orchestra to show the efforts and determination of young people to realize their dreams, but more importantly, it also involves the complicated and incomprehensible sovereign territory in the Middle East for centuries. Controversy, as well as the real-life appearance of the characters in the battlefield who are not surprised by gunfire and shelling. These story backgrounds also make "Symphony of Madman", which is superficially based on music, more diverse and rich.
The historical background of "Symphony of Mad Men"
Therefore, in order to understand the starting point of the conflict between the characters in "Symphony of Mad Men", we must first understand the relationship between Israel and Palestine. Have a preliminary understanding. As early as BC, the Jews often clashed with the kingdoms of "Assyria" and "Babylon" in Mesopotamia because of their culture and religious beliefs. After AD, under the rule of the Roman Empire, the empire's influence on the Jews The suppression also led to the mass exodus of Jews from ancient Israel, and they began to live in exile overseas for thousands of years. After being oppressed by European Christians and Middle Eastern Muslims in the Middle Ages, and the Nazi Holocaust during World War II, they finally returned to their homeland of Israel in the 19th century. And this was the beginning of their conflicts with Palestine and other Middle Eastern countries.
With the support of Britain, as the number of immigrated Jews increased, the relationship between Jews and Arabs gradually became tense, and the first Middle East War broke out. Although the Jews successfully occupied the Holy Land after the war, The establishment of the State of Israel on Palestinian lands such as "Jerusalem" has also directly affected the Palestinian citizens who originally lived here, causing them to be driven away by a group of displaced people and become "displaced". Since then, territorial and sovereignty disputes in this region have not only led to constant conflicts between Israel, which has powerful armed forces, and Palestine, which lives in poverty, but also has insoluble conflicts between the two peoples.
The unsolvable contradictions of "Symphony of Madman"
Against such a complex historical background, "Symphony of Madman" features an orchestra formed by young people from both countries. Because of the racial and religious differences between them, as well as the conflicts caused by years of war conflicts and ethnic oppression, the core of the story is on the one hand the desire to learn from the master as a musician, and on the other hand the values ??that have been instilled from birth. With their past life experiences, not only did the members find themselves in a dilemma on the road to pursuing their musical dreams, but it also allowed "Symphony of Madman" to conduct an in-depth discussion of the relationship between art and politics.
Perhaps we can see that in order to successfully complete the symphony performance, the conductor in "Symphony of Mad Men" tried his best to let the members know and understand each other, and use music to connect with everyone's daily interactions. The emotional connection established to eliminate the hatred between the country and the family in each other's hearts.
And on the surface, this really works. After they went through a lot of cursing and hating each other, and then showing kindness and reconciliation to each other, they did manage to get along, showing the unity and tacit understanding that a symphony orchestra should have. However, even so, from Personal emotions still cannot change the "different" nature of the two ethnic groups in a short period of time.
The core of the plot of "Symphony of Madmen"
Not only is the outside world unable to accept the children of one's own country living in harmony with the enemy, but they even exchange each other's cultural habits, a sudden accident The incident also instantly broke the emotional relationship the team had just established. "Symphony of Madman" very realistically presents the contradictions that are bound to exist in this society, from the collision between ideals and realism to the ubiquitous political conflicts in life, all of which are combined with the musical elements and simple emotions between people in the film. Under the packaging, the audience feels helpless because they are unable to change the real situation and cannot find a way to truly solve the problem while feeling unfair about the injustice they have encountered.
However, although the final result of the symphony orchestra in the film seems to be a failure, we should not succumb to the unresolved contradiction between the two parties. Just like the movie "Symphony of Mad Men", the master, a German who was spurned by some extreme people because his parents helped the Nazis, serves as a bridge of communication between Israeli and Palestinian members. Although politics can never be clearly separated from anything, what politics belongs to politics , art returning to art has been proven to be a fantasy, but even so, looking at the brief and peaceful time between the two parties, "Symphony of Madman" also returned to the musical core of the entire work in the end, allowing the supreme art to lead It shows people's purest sincerity that is not disturbed by external things.
Reflections on the ending of "Symphony of Madman"
Perhaps reality always has many events that we cannot change independently, but in this world full of cruelty, can we also find A corner, through understanding each other, breaking down the high wall that separates both parties at a specific time? And at that moment let yourself be completely immersed in the music and enjoy the purest happiness? Perhaps this method of avoiding a lose-lose situation is also the reason why "Symphony of Madman" takes as its main theme a symphony that requires team members to cooperate with each other and achieve balance and harmony.
Just like this, "Symphony of Madman" asked the members to play Czech composer Dvo?ák's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" during practice, and when it finally fell apart, it ended with "Symphony of War" "The ending of French composer Maurice Ravel's "Boleiro", in which the whole ensemble plays from weak crescendo to passionate, not only shows the huge energy that music can contain with its majestic and shocking music, but also the kind that symbolizes unity and The spirit of unity echoes the entire movie "Symphony of Madman". It hopes to use this tragic story to awaken us to the theme of communication and reconciliation between ethnic groups, leaving a strong staying power and endless aftertaste.
Conclusion of the film review of "Symphony of Madman"
Overall, "Symphony of Madman" is undoubtedly a powerful work. "Symphony of Madman" comes at just the right time. In addition to triggering The audience's reflection on the international situation and current situation, the characters' attitudes towards historical hatred and the inclusive understanding between people also give us another perspective on things. Although we cannot be together in reality, at least there is music to connect us. Each other's hearts, I think this is also a kind of perfection among imperfections.