Final Solution is not, as I
first supposed, and I imagine so will almost everyone else, a Holocaust drama,
but a true life story set in the later years of South Africa’s Apartheid regime.
There is a Nazi connection, in that the film unfolds in flash-back from 1993,
at the time of South Africa’s first democratic elections, telling the story
of how Gerrit Wolfaardt (played by Jan Ellis), transformed from a para-military
racist modelling his views on those of Adolf Hitler, to a Christian determined
to bring peace between blacks and whites. The film has been widely praised for,
unlike so many "message movies", not forgetting to be a good, compelling
entertainment with strong characters first, trusting that the message would
follow implicitly. Perhaps because of this, Final Solution has won six awards
to-date, including the Crystal Heart at the 2002 Heartland Film Festival, and
"Best Picture" at the ICVM awards. Finally, and of most interest to
FMOTW, the music by John Sponsler and Tom Gire was cited as "Best Soundtrack"
at the 2003 Down Under Film Festival in Darwin, Australia.
Anyone who read my review of
Hans Zimmer’s score for Tears of the Sun last month will not be surprised to
find that I thoroughly enjoyed this score. Though not with the multi-million
dollar production values of a Media Ventures soundscape, Sponsler and Gire have
worked in a similar vein, delivering a diverse multi-cultural melting pot of
musical styles. The album features a small orchestra consisting of strings and
woodwind (there is no brass), two choirs – The Sdasa Chorale and the Khayalitsha
Gospel Choir – an ethnic percussion group called The Khoisan, plus various soloists
performing ethnic and traditional instruments, chants, body percussion, pennywhistle
& ethnic flutes, as well as a soprano vocal soloist, Nqobile Sibeko. There
is some electronic augmentation, though no synthesiser programmer or performer
is credited.
What it all adds up to is a
score which ranges from the beauty of "Celeste’s Theme" and the "Redemption
Theme", through to the percussive violence of "Angry Mob" and
"Foot Chase". Worked into this tapestry are many atmospheric textures,
chants, gorgeous soprano vocals, and Gospel hymns or hymnal style writing. The
disc opens with what may actually be the end title, a title song with Nqobile
Sibeko making a powerfully emotive contribution to this title anthem. Unfortunately
there are no lyrics included. "Township" offers a wordless uplifting
male vocal against light percussion and bird sounds, a joyful introduction before
the more subdued tracks to follow, such as the sultry, slow-moving and dreamy
semi-electronic "Flashback" and the nostalgic "Grandpa’s Theme".
Later cues such as "Moses’
Story" and "Interrogation" are particularly effective, the later
being, rather than brutal, a restlessly cycling, ever growing anthem of endurance
and defiance – think of the sound world of Vangelis’ 1492: Conquest of Paradise
and you won’t be far wrong – again greatly lifted by the wonderfully rich vocals
of Nqobile Sibeko.
Elsewhere, considering the triumphant
choral sound which breaks out at various points, together with the sheer emotional
tenderness of the instrumental themes, while the musical approach is very different,
one might think of Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, which sets the beauty of Chopin
against the horror of the Nazis’ Final Solution. Both films offer music as an
implicit comment against the ultimate failure of evil, underlining the indestructible
nature of the human spirit, all of which culminates in the final track, a simple
hymn arranged for solo voice and piano. The title, "Thank You Lord",
sums up the message of the film in a way which is fresh, direct and compelling
– a far cry from the rote, insipid music currently infecting Western churches
with its formula pop-lite mediocrity.
The only problem one might have
with the disc is that many of the 24 cues are very short, but then that is the
nature of film music and at least it would seem all the music from the movie
is here. Alternatively, one can accept the disc as a refreshingly diverse set
of moods and melodies, Uplifting and in places quiet lovely, Final Solution
is a significant score which will find favour with any who appreciate African
themed music, warm hearted melody, of which there is an abundance here to be
enjoyed, or simply a finely crafted film scoring. Highly recommended.
Gary Dalkin
4