As it is in Heaven

By Sue Hryckiewicz           

This Swedish film directed by Kay Pollak may be slow to start but seeps into your blood and floods your emotions as it swells to the tumultuous finale. I am still stunned; not for a long time have I experienced an entire audience sit in silence through the final credits until the last chord fades and the final words flicker to black.

The superb performances are what carries this movie. The large cast pours compassion and intense feeling into their characters to develop highly credible personas in a small village deep in far northern countryside Sweden.

After a brief incident in his youth, a budding musician (played by Michael Nyqvist) is removed from his country birthplace. The story leaps forward to the twilight of his career where he has become a renowned conductor, driving his orchestras as hard as he drives himself in the quest to fulfill his dream to create music that will touch hearts. His own heart, however, is failing and he must retire before his lifestyle kills him. For no reason that seems valid, he heads back to the village of his birth knowing that none would remember him as even his name has been changed since those early days.

The scenery wrapped in winter ice is both starkly beautiful and bleak, much as his prospects. During the winter chill, he is unwillingly drawn into the musical outlet of the village, the church choir. Unable to resist the lure of his muse and the raw talent of the assembled voices, he becomes their choirmaster. As the ice begins to thaw, the choristers fight to find their voice within the harmony, and in their lives. Home truths are out’ed, bitter rivalries raise their ugly heads, lusts and envies aired, and accusations rain down on everyone’s heads whether in the choir or not.

Does conductor/choirmaster achieve his lifelong ambition? He believes so in a small way, but words fail description at the power unleashed that reaches out to the cinema audience in the final crescendo. There are scenes that are strongly christian-iconic giving pause to wonder if his homecoming did not have a higher purpose.

Editing and the use of sound, and lack of it, are well used to draw in the audience. However, the one serious detraction to watching the movie is the hand-held-camera footage. It spins, twists, turns and reels in tight focus. If you like the jerking unpredictability of hand-held work then you will be in your element; if not, shut your eyes for a few moments until the sickening lurching is back in control because the script and the performances are worth the experience.

While the central story is compelling enough, it also gently touches on a wide range of socially significant topics that makes the film timelessly relevant. Everyone deserves to experience the elation evoked by the film at least once in their movie-going lives. The film certainly deserved the many award nominations, including Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards in 2005.

For the very squeamish, there are moments of violence that should be watched for and avoided but they are well telegraphed in the context of the action.

Rating 3.5 if you don’t like hand-held camera work; 4 out of 5 if you do.