Director Nicholas Hytner’s charming film “The Choral” is a warm and old-fashioned drama that unfolds as a tribute to music’s ability to sustain communities in moments of collective despair. Set in 1916 at the height of the First World War, the story finds a Yorkshire town struggling to maintain its cultural identity as the war steadily keeps taking away its male residents.
With their Choral Society decimated, the committee makes the bold decision to carry on by recruiting local adolescent boys to fill the gaps for an ambitious performance of Edward Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius.” Enter Dr. Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes), a driven and uncompromising new chorus master who has recently returned from Germany (and whose past raises suspicions despite his pedigreed musical authority). As conscription papers loom, the act of singing together becomes both a refuge and a quiet form of resistance against the chaos threatening to overwhelm the town.
The story is straightforward to a fault, which makes the pacing feel sluggish. There’s nothing surprising narrative-wise, and Hytner tends to beat viewers on the head with the message of the importance of community and the role of art in processing fear and grief. Still, “The Choral” is an earnest and comforting period piece about the healing power of music and the way creating something together can offer a glimmer of hope in the darkest of times.
By: Louisa Moore
Screen Zealots 