Rating: 
Summary: HORROR MOVIE DIRECTOR CRAVEN CAN ALSO MAKE DOCUDRAMA WINNER
Review: We expect Meryl Streep who famously weeps with a red nose onscreen to make a heart tugging inspirational movie from the story of an abandoned, white middle class music teacher (Roberta Guaspari) giving poor black kids in a Harlem public school the gift of music. But can the guy who made scary movies such as A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and SCREAM maked a heart tugging docudrama? Yes indeed, as director Wes Craven switches gears to virtuous human emotions by telling us the story of one woman's triumph and the revival of a downtrodden urban community. Guess what! This film is just as powerful as any of Craven's horror movies. If you let it , MUSIC OF THE HEART can evoke strong emotion and sentiment.Streep's performance is Oscar class. Meanwhile, Angela Bassett, Gloria Estefan and Aidan Quinn provide very strong support. Estefan performs the title song with teen sensation 'N Sync, and the sound track talent includes Jennifer Lopez, C Note, Macy Gray, and Julio Iglesias Jr. MUSIC OF THE HEART produces uplifting exhilaration much like MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS did. Sure it is sentimental and emotionally manipulative. But this heart-warming film is one that the whole family can enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Music That Came From The Best Movie!
Review: Two-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep (One True Thing) stars with Angela Bassett (How Stella Got Her Groove Back) in a heartwarming, acclaimed true story of how one woman's musical gift affected those who least expected it! A single mother with little more than talent and the determination to make a difference, Roberta Guaspari (Streep) overcame the skepticism of everyone who didn't think she should be teaching violin to students in a tough inner-city neighborhood. But even after a decade of ever-growing popularity and countless success stories, Roberta and her kids must rise to meet an even greater challenge: budget cuts aimed at shutting down her valuable program for good! Also starring Aidan Quinn (Practical Magic) and Grammy winner Gloria Estefan in a stellar cast, this extraordinary story will inspire anyone who's ever thought their dreams were too far out of reach!
Rating:
Summary: Wes Craven Shines!
Review: Can you believe this film was directed by Wes Craven? What a moving story! Everyone should see this movie. One thing-why is Gloria Estefan on the cover???!! Don't get me wrong I love her music, but she hardly had any part AT ALL! Maybe she had 7 lines in all, so it kind of doesn't make sense. Anyway, this movie is great-so watch it, NOW! :-)
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating true story gets lackluster film treatment
Review: Meryl Streep got her twelfth Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Roberta Guaspari in Places in the Heart. Her performance is excellent [when has she been anything but?], yet it is not enough to bring the movie completely to life. This true story, which has been filmed before as a documentary called Small Wonders, is about a teacher who created a music program in the schools of the impoverished East Harlem area of New York. A single mother of two boys, Guaspari, who was trained as a classical violinist but who had little teaching experience, was given a job as a teacher in the 1980s by Janet Williams, a principal at one of the schools. There was no real budget for a classical music program, so she was hired as a substitute. Guaspari herself supplied the first violins. Ten years later, she had taught 1,400 youngsters. When the program was in danger of being axed due to a school budget crisis, Guaspari enlisted the aid of some friends, who arranged for her to give a benefit concert with her best students at Carnegie Hall. Famous violinist like Isaac Stern participated, and the Program was saved. In 1999, money was found by the city to assure its continuation. I don't know who was responsible for Music of the Heart's rather uninspired telling of the story. It certainly wasn't Ms. Streep. It may have been director Wes Craven, who until now has made his mark in the horror genre, with creepy teen fare such as Nightmare on Elm Street and the Scream trilogy. His choice to make a straight drama raised a few eyebrows, and perhaps he was overly cautious with the material. Some of the problem lies within the screenplay. Writer Pamela Gray concentrates on the main character almost exclusively. Ms. Streep is in nearly every scene. Except for some fairly good interaction between Roberta and her boys, most of the characters float in and out, acting almost as stage props. There is little that is memorable about them, and, as a result, we wind up not understanding Roberta Guaspari very well. We see what she does, and we understand that her work is noteworthy and inspirational. Yet the picture does not fill us with inspiration. It's not that it's a bad move, it's that it never soars, as movies about noble, dedicated people can when well done. While it is not a given, what usually provides the drama for such true tales is understanding what personal sacrifices an individual must make to fulfill a difficult goal. I feel certain that this happened to Ms. Guaspari in real life, but we see almost none of it in this movie. It is strongly hinted at a couple of times, but then the film simply glosses everything over and moves on the something else. Music of the Heart is certainly worth watching for Ms. Streep's performance. The story is a fascinating one, but much of what makes a good story is the way in which it is told. Music of the Heart is not that much of a story teller.
Rating:
Summary: Most unrealistic portrayal of a classroom ever on film...
Review: Whoever wrote this screenplay had NO idea what the inside of a classroom looks like.
My goodness. I've seen more realistic depictions of school life in a few B-movies.
It's like the makers of this particular movie were SO interested in making a movie about MUSIC that they paid very little attention to making a movie about SCHOOL.
I could go on and on and on about how this movie falls flat on its face in the depiction of a contemporary classroom, particularly an inner city classroom, but let me just demonstrate but ONE ridiculous unreality this movie commits: In this movie, the school children all pretty much speak proper English. What?!!??? In the inner city???? School children not using barbaric slang in the inner city but instead speaking proper English and doing so naturally, like that's what they do all the time???
Yikes. You've got to be kidding me.
The 5 star reviewers on here ought to be ashamed of themselves for settling for such cartoony realism; better yet, they and the these out-of-touch moviemakers ought to actually go spend some time studying their subject matter, the actual daily war zone that is the contemporary American inner city classroom.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding.
Review: Streep and Bassett are wonderful in this heart-felt drama about a music teacher who "belives" and makes a tremendous difference in the lives of young inner-city children. Funny and poignant. Very highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Promising story falls flat
Review: MUSIC OF THE HEART is based on a true story of a woman named Roberta who wanted to teach violin to students, who believed that with the right discipline any child could play violin. The movie stars Meryl Streep who has been excellent in just about anything she's ever done in her career, this movie being no exception. The story follows Roberta, a single mother of two, looking for work and finding work as a substitute in a school in the East Harlem of New York. She has 50 violins and her class starts out small, and fast forward to 10 years later, where her class size has tripled. Roberta finds out that her class is being cut from the budget and will cease to exist. Enlisting the help of friends and family, they organize a benefit concert which eventually ends up taking place at Carnegie Hall, where they raise enough money for her program to continue. The movie is a nice adaptation of the true story, however it falls flat in many areas. I felt there wasn't nearly enough character development, for any character for that matter. Roberta's goals and hard work are clearly inspirational but watching the movie you don't get that sense of inspiration that this type of movie should make the viewer connect towards. As well I felt the plot moved rather quickly, one moment the students were amateurs, then halfway through the term they are playing like rank professionals? Ok sure. Or how about her new students playing Carnegie Hall with seasoned professionals, and being basically presented as just as good as the professionals. I realize we're led to think there was a lot of practicing but it still doesn't ring true, they are children and not everyone is going to perform the same or do as well. Regardless, it was a movie worth seeing for Streep's performance, another shining performance. Well worth the time, just ultimately a tad disappointing in terms of writing and character development.
Rating:
Summary: 3 and a half is more like it
Review: This was a good movie. However, it was more of a movie than a biographical account. The bulk of the film seemed to focus on the "fiddle fest" concert at the end, but it realy didn't focus a great deal on the amount of work needed in the early stages of the program to make it work. A white woman doesn't just walk into a school in East Harlem and start a violin program. There is very little focus on the work needed to win the students over to the idea or even how they were taught. One second she's showing them how to stand, the next it is half way through the term and they are playing songs. What happened in between?!? As a musician myself, I greatly disliked Roberta's teaching styles. If that whole "tough love" approach was indeed how she teaches ("that's terrible" etc.) then I have considerably less respect for her. It works for some students, but not all. She was quite the overbearing mother forcing her kids to practice. I don't like watching kids forced into playing music-it ought to begin out of joy for the instrument, not because mom thinks that you must play violin. Even her own sons quit violin-part of a teacher's job should be to instill a love of the instrument in the student, not force them away from it. The characters are enjoyable and there are some wonderful moments throughout, but it really does feel more like a Hallmark Hall of Fame TV mini-series or something.
Rating: 
Summary: Music in our hearts
Review: This is a great story of the indomitable will of Roberta Guaspari-Tzavaras and her program to teach kids to play the violin. I was glad to see that the documentary made about her, Small Woonder, included with the DVD. (I preferred it to the hollywood version.)
I'm told Meryl Streep practiced six hours a day to learn to play the violin well enough to make this movie. This, to me, reveals a fierce dedication to her craft that makes her a likely contender to play this role. It is a wonderful story and it is good to see it brought to a wider audience in a commercial venture. We all need music and one woman's determination to take it to the schools of the inner city is heart warming.
Rating:
Summary: Music of the Heart
Review: This is a special favorite of mine. I loved the music and admire the courage needed for a single mother to get her life together and to help children learn the pleasure and value of playing the violin. I have seen the movie twice and sent the video as a Christmas gift to my daughter and son-in-law.
| 
