Music brings a community together in this poignant wartime yarn written by Alan Bennett and directed by Nicholas Hytner.
Set in the fictional town of Ramsden, Yorkshire during the First World War, the Ramsden Choral Society loses numerous male members due to enlistment, including their chorus master.
The community is scandalised by the appointment of their new choir master, Dr Henry Guthrie (brilliantly portrayed by Ralph Fiennes), whose previous career as a celebrated musical director in Germany has rendered him persona non grata. In fact, being fluent in German, an atheist and “not a family man” does not help his case.
Having his new suggested repertoire of Bach, Beethoven or Handel vetoed and told to “reign in the German”, Guthrie settles on Edward Elgar’s ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ in desperation. He even gets written permission from Elgar for the performance, but leaves out his changes to the original music. With the recruitment of some unlikely new members, the group prepares for their annual performance.
With Alan Bennett’s typical slew of witty one-liners and the spot-on delivery from the cast, (which includes heavy hitters such as Roger Allam, Mark Addy and even a cameo appearance by Simon Russell Beale as Edward Elgar), one might be forgiven for mistaking the film as a typical British feel-good watch. The Choral is so much more than that.
Yes, at it’s core, it is about how music and community can bring us together during the hardships of war, but it also reminds us of those left behind. We watch as the young postie delivers telegram after telegram of bad news to wives and mothers; a freshly conscripted teenager tries to lose his virginity to a sex worker before potentially dying on the Western Front; Clyde (Jacob Dudman) makes it home from war, but has lost an arm and a girlfriend; Guthrie trying to hold it together while the choir celebrates the sinking of the ship that his German lover was stationed on.
Although the film has been criticised for being “unsentimental” by some, I tend to disagree.
While the movie certainly was not groundbreaking by any means, it definitely made me feel something, quietly. It may not have moved me to tears, nor guffaw with laughter, but its dry humour and quiet optimism left me feeling hopeful that the young soldiers would get their happy resolution.
The Choral is now showing as part of the British Film Festival.