Film Review: ‘The Choral’ is music to the eyes of film-goers

(***1/2) When they sang in harmony they thought it would be forever. World War I thought otherwise.

Audiences who love music, have been in a choir or want to know what it’s like to be left behind when war rages will have a special affinity for this period drama. Others too, as they get to know the characters, join in their friendships, romances, jealousies and other social aspects/group dynamics choirs experience. The bonds of music pull them together. Human desires and frailties add certain peculiarities.

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Alan Bennett (The Madness of King George), who wrote the script at the tender age of 89, displays a nice affinity for lovelorn people in this ode to those whose lives are derailed by war. He and his touching 1916-set storyline give director Nicholas Hytner (The Madness of King George) the tools he needs to make a viable historical war/drama/romance set in a rural Yorkshire, England. That’s where locals have made the town choir the heart of their village. A musical group that’s being torn apart as its young men’s destinies are leading to the front lines.

When the resident choirmaster leaves to join the fight, the board, headed by Alderman Duxbury (Roger Allam), the resident but aging tenor, hunts for a new one. Against their better judgement, they settle on the controversial conductor Dr. Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes, Conclave). Controversial? There’s gossip. “He’s been working in Germany!” “Treachery!” “He’s an Atheist!” Hey, he’s also difficult and has never been married—who would have him?

Though the group and their new musical director were set to present Bach’s St. Mathew Passion, they decide to eschew the German composer’s work. Afterall, they’re fighting Deutschland, so why exalt them. Guthrie talks them into performing Edward Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius. He’s British, it’s safer—though a difficult piece. That’s the plan. Though plans are what god laughs at.

The push and pull between the board and Guthrie almost never stop. One of the biggest bones of contention is that the elderly Duxbury wants to do the tenor solo. His will and his voice aren’t matching up. In a script that judiciously delves into the gossipy lives of choir members, watching them cavort is almost as much fun as watching them create their musical event.

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