“Music of the Heart" is based on the true story of a violin teacher named Roberta Guaspari, who created a high school music program more or less out of thin air in East Harlem, and eventually found herself and her students on the stage of Carnegie Hall. Most movies claiming to be based on fact pour on the melodrama, but this one basically just sticks to the real story, which has all the emotional wallop that's needed.
Meryl Streep stars as Guaspari, a mother of two whose husband leaves her. On her own, she has hard times in the job market; she's gift wrapping presents in a department store one day when she's spotted by an old friend (Aidan Quinn) who knew her in her days as a gifted music student. He tells her about a high school that might have an opening, and soon Guaspari is trying to sell a reluctant principal (Angela Bassett) on what could be accomplished with 50 violins she just happens to have purchased cheaply in Greece.
The principal doesn't think so. And, of course, the school has no funds, anyway (think what our society might be like if the funds spent on high school sports were used to help kids access the humanities). But Guaspari is persistent and establishes a music program, despite predictable difficulties, including the obligatory mother who complains her children are being taught the music of "dead white men." (The mother is correct, but man, could those guys compose!) The screenplay has the courage to go easy on the scenes involving movie romance. The Quinn character is disqualified as a candidate, and although another guy (Jay O. Sanders) comes along, this movie is not so much about romance as about practice, practice, practice. Ten years pass. The program has expanded to three schools, and is so popular kids enter a lottery to get into it. Then funds are cut, and the program is threatened. "Do you know anybody who works for the New York Times?" Guaspari thoughtfully asks a friend, and soon an article in the Times leads to a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall, with violinists Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman and Arnold Steinhardt playing themselves.
This second half of the film feels almost like a documentary, and no wonder; there was a documentary about this same material ("Small Wonders," 1996), unseen by me, and you can guess how Guaspari must have seemed like a natural for someone like Streep to play. The movie doesn't punch up the drama but simply shows good people trying to work together and get something done. That's why it's so effective.
Meryl Streep is known for her mastery of accents; she may be the most versatile speaker in the movies. Here you might think she has no accent, unless you've heard her real speaking voice; then you realize that Guaspari's speaking style is no less a particular achievement than Streep's other accents. This is not Streep's voice, but someone else'swith a certain flat quality, as if later education and refinement came after a somewhat unsophisticated childhood.
The movie was directed by Wes Craven, known for his horror films ("Scream," "A Nightmare on Elm Street"), and he may seem like a strange choice for this material. Not at all. He is in fact a cultured man who broke into movies doing horror and got stuck in the genre; he's been trying to fight his way free from studio typecasting for 20 years, and this movie shows that he can get Meryl Streep to Carnegie Hall just as easily as a phantom to the opera.
这是一个有关女性自我实现的故事。她不够聪明，以致丈夫跟别的女人跑了；也不够有才华，她的小提琴还蛮初级的；亦不是所谓的“完美老师”，她也会赶跑学生、对他们发脾气。 她只是一个平凡、不太幸运的笨女人。 .........面对丈夫的背叛，罗伯塔的世界轰然坍塌了。多年来，她随着在海军服役的丈夫四处奔波，已毫无个人事业可言。
现在这一切都幻灭了，她必须重新自食其力，同时还得抚育两个幼子。背井离乡的罗伯塔来到全国最乱的纽约东哈林区。除了资质、韧性和往日攒下的50把小提琴外，她已一无所有，教孩子们拉琴成了她谋生的惟一选择，但来自各方的怀疑让她苦恼。重压当头，罗伯塔的激情感染了学生，混乱不堪的街区里传来了美妙的音乐，人们驻足凝听。罗伯塔经过十年的辛勤耕耘，成绩斐然，她的学生不但学会了拉琴，而且自身的素质也有了很大的提高。罗伯塔还带领他们举办音乐会。家长们改变了原来的偏见，为孩子们学琴踊跃报名。为此，罗伯塔不得不用抽签的办法来录取学生。与此同时，她的同行们也被她锲而不舍的精神所打动，继而开始尊敬她，校长简妮特更是对她大嘉赞赏。
就在罗伯塔事业有成，名声鹊起之时，校方董事局为了削减教育预算决定从下一学期开始取消小提琴课程，罗伯塔再一次陷入困境。消息传开后，一些家长自发地聚在她的家里，为她出谋划策，东哈林区的人们也利用各种方式来表示对她的支持。女记者朵萝茜耳闻目睹罗伯塔所做的一切后十分钦佩，她提出了一个惊人的设想：邀请一批著名的小提琴演奏家与罗波塔以及她的弟子们联手举办一个小提琴节，通过义演的收入来资助她的课程。朵萝茜的丈夫阿诺德是一位小提琴演奏家，在他的支持和帮助下，演出事宜很快被定了下来。
受此鼓舞，罗伯塔率领弟子们日以继夜地排练节目，然而好事多磨，演出场地由于水管爆裂而要取消他们的活动。关健时刻著名的卡耐基音乐厅接纳了他们，使演出如期举行。
座无虚席的卡耐基音乐厅里，罗伯塔和孩子们的悠扬琴声打动了所有的观众，他们用经久不息的掌声来表达对这位园丁的崇敬。这场演出的收入资助罗伯塔的课程达三年之久，以后她的支持者们通过私人基金收到的捐款继续支持她，直到她的课程被正式恢复。
这部影片告诉那些对梦想望而却步的人们：不管生于何门，阻挠几多，只要坚持下去，并笃信自己，那么一切不可能都会变得水到渠成。片中的罗伯塔遇到来自家庭和事业的重重阻力，但她坚守做人原则，在逆境中决不轻易言败，最终实现了自己的人生价值。她点化了出身卑微的孩子们的音乐禀赋，而孩子们的灵气则让死气沉沉的教育体制尝到了僵化的苦头。
