I just finished reading John von Rhein and Gene Siskel’s conversation about the movie and opera “Amistad” (Tempo, Dec. 23), I started to read it with high anticipation because I had just seen the opera in Chicago, and was enthralled with it from beginning to end.
However, I did not read the conversation with much enjoyment since you don’t share my enthusiasm for the opera.
Some alternate thoughts:
– The music was not meant to be lilting or melodious. Slavery was anything but lilting with harmonious melodies and memorable passages. The music conveyed the schizophrenia of slavery and how the slaves had to bear up under the situation. Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” points this out marvelously.
– The Ocean Goddess was a stroke of genius, a great allegorical personification for the net that came “out of the blue” and entrapped Cinque and his Mende brothers and sisters. A careful listening to the words she sings conveys all the misery of the Middle Passage.
– People left after the first act, not because of a flawed opera, but because of the flawed way white America has always looked upon slavery. They could not handle what they were witnessing and did not have the spiritual maturity to understand the pivotal position of the African Trickster god. It just showed their ignorance of the nuances of a different religion other than the one they practice.
– Spielberg’s genius at creating blockbusters out of people’s misery is what draws record crowds to his movies as is happening now with his look at slavery. I am not putting down his accomplishments, but you must agree that movies and TV have lessened the finer sensibilities of the American public to the kind of work and message that the Davises convey so splendidly on the Civic Opera stage.
People were genuinely moved by this opera as they were meant to be. People will be moved by the movie as they were meant to be. Great art, in whatever media, is created to move people to cry, to scream, to think, to act. Both of these productions have the capacity to do all of the above. And with the issue of slavery and the position of blacks in the United States today that is a huge task. We must thank the artists with enough strength and genius to tackle this subject matter and put all of their talents to the test.
