Educational Media Reviews Online

Veteran documentarian Phil Grabsky, fresh from making In Search of Mozart, the first feature film on the life and work the composer, next went to Angola to study people learning Western classical music in a struggling school in the capital city, Luanda. His film follows three students for an entire year: 23-year old Joana, a single mother of two who aspires to be the first female internationally known percussionist from Angola until her teacher leaves and she has to switch to piano; 21-year-old preacher’s kid Alfredo, whose family thinks he is crazy to think he can become a world-famous classical pianist, and 42-year old Domingas who finds music to be a cure for depression and ends up with a job as a church musician. The younger people featured in the program grew up with the horror of constant warfare; the older woman’s depression surely was fed by Angola’s 27-year civil war, which followed upon its war of independence from Portugal.

The title of the film relates to music as an escape from poverty, from mental fatigue, and from the realities of Luanda. Students are shown dealing with rats in the streets, potable water carried home in huge containers, limbless people maimed by land mines, choosing between meat on the table (and a three-hour walk to school) or bus fare, and a perceived unfair distribution of oil and diamond wealth. The women vocally bemoan ‘woman’s place’ traditions that they must fight in order to continue their studies. The school itself seems pitifully underfunded, with pianos out of tune and frequent staff turnover. One student questions the necessity of Angolans learning so much ‘classical’ music, several are shown resisting the discipline a new school director imposes, and some seem painfully aware of just how elementary their skills are, compared with people their age in other places.

The film is well edited; we see Angola’s extreme poverty, but the focus is on people who appear healthy and purposeful so we are not led into despair over it. Music is effectively used: for most of the film, Angolan pop music or the school’s real, off-key pianos and other practice sessions are heard. Some of the toughest shots of Luanda’s reality are accompanied by a Mozart piano concerto on the soundtrack and Grabsky kindly and wisely lets us hear a professional rendition of a Beethoven piano sonata when the students are shown performing their annual recital—this is what they all hope to sound like one day.

An invitation to visit a website “to make a small donation” ends the credits; some people who see the film are evidently moved to do so. The site says such money is used to supplement the school’s resources.

As a teaching tool, the well-crafted program offers an intimate look at Angolan city life in the early 21st century, examples of students persevering despite adverse conditions, and a generous helping of empathic human interest – people everywhere struggle to stick to their dreams in the face of familial disapproval, balance work/study and home life, and tease or support each other depending on the situation. Recommended for collections emphasizing contemporary Africa or music in everyday life.