Did not rise to its potential

Rating: 3/10 (16 June 2013)

I enjoyed historical movies and in general find the life of a priceless antique worth reading about (or watching). I find it amazing that we can know every owner for example of a specific pearl going back several centuries, but most folks know about their own families usually just two generations back. So I thought this movie would be one I would enjoy. I also expected to hear some beautiful violin music. Wrong on both counts. The violin's history seemed too manufactured for the film's sake, not a real logical progression from one owner to another. Some of the major changes of ownership were left to the viewer's imagination and at least in my own case, I was unable to make the leap. The change did not make sense. How did the violin get to be owned by gypsies? How did it get to China? It would have made an interesting story, but where the manufactured history is stretched way beyond anything credible, the change of ownership is simply not explained. While I liked the overall concept of following the life of an object, the music, which I expected to be a major part of this film, was beyond disappointing. I don't play the violin but I can certainly appreciate beautiful music. There was very little "music" per se in this music. The only time anything that could be called "music" was played was some Chinese children's performance and it was made by accordions. The only sounds we heard coming from this supposedly incredibly valuable violin was the endless screeching, and this in spite of the fact that its journey took us through times when some of the most heavenly music on earth had been composed. Not one piece from Mozart, or resembling Mozart's style, had been offered. Just screeching. No music of any of the music's great composers was played at any time. More screeching. The sounds this violin made could have been compared to a cat scratching on a metal roof. That bad. Wonder how many CDs with the soundtrack they managed to sell. That would tell them just how "wonderful" the soundtrack was. The soundtrack was thoroughly modern, something that may be considered all the rage today. The music was probably difficult to play, but there is no sugarcoating it - the music is nothing but screeching. No melody, no rhythm, no emotion. No sweet sounds that leave a person in awe of beauty of sound. So no music, just noise. The ending climax likewise is not really any surprise like it is supposed to be, and most certainly not a shocking surprise, because I thought "the secret" was already implied in the beginning and so it didn't seem like any kind of surprise, at least not to me. If you can stand the noise that passes for a soundtrack, this is not a bad film. It's different. It's not very entertaining, but just the fact that it doesn't follow the standard mold makes it interesting. Best film ever made (as some of the reviews here indicate)? Most definitely not. I am writing this in 2013 (saw the film for the first time yesterday) and the film is all but forgotten today, 15 years after it was made. I happened to pick up an old VHS tape in a second hand store. Otherwise, it's forgotten.