MartinHafer In 2005, "As It Is In Heaven" was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film...and ironically, so was the French film "The Chorus". I say there's irony because their plots are extremely similar. Both involve a man trying to lead a chorus to greatness and both, ultimately, had to deal with fun-hating authoritarians who wanted to disrupt their work. But, of the two, "The Chorus" is a much better picture because it was written better and the ending made more sense and doesn't leave you angry.Daniel Daréus (Michael Nyqvist) is a world famous director but he also has two problems--he tends to get very angry and he has a bad heart. After suffering a heart attack while working, he's told he must quit or he'll die. So he moved back to a small, rural town in Sweden...one which he grew up in but hated as a child. He and his mother hated it so much, they left it when he was 7. Why he would choose to return here of all places to retire really didn't make a lot of sense.Despite not being an especially friendly or happy man, he somehow is wrangled into attending a session with the local church choir as one of the members would like his opinion about their progress. Soon, however, he finds that they want him to direct this chorus and slowly his grouchy veneer vanishes and he finds a sense of purpose here. He also finds that he has grown to like the folks. Unfortunately, there is a VERY stereotypical minister who hates fun and is too much of a caricature to be taken seriously. Plus, having a self-righteous, one-dimensional minister attacking something if it was, perhaps rock music or drugs might make some sense...but a choir?! There also is a serious problem with the ending of the film. Some may like it...most will feel robbed. After all, you invest all this time and energy into a film and then...this?! So what you have are some good singing, some interesting characters and a kernel of a good story...but you have all that and so much more in "The Chorus". I say what the French film.By the way, no one seemed to care but about a decade later, the director made a sequel to this film, "Heaven on Earth". The rating on IMDb is very low and apparently it turned out to be a sequel no one particularly wanted.

paloma54 This movie seemed to be a sure winner based on reviews, yet my husband and I were shocked at the terrible acting by Michael Nyquist, the overblown behavior as well as superficiality of all the characters, the presence of everyone's (sadly, it would seem) favorite paper tiger faux-Christian pastor stereotype, and an aimless wandering plot, not to mention the completely unrealistic cop-out ending.There are endless long shots of Daniel (Nyquist) simply staring, without any clue as to what he is thinking or feeling, and there is precious little spoken dialogue, even when he is accused irrationally and unjustly by town gossips. Is this some sort of pathetic attempt to equate him to the Christ who offers no defense in the court of Pontius Pilate? Are we supposed to think he is autistic? Why the heck doesn't he respond? It comes across as wholly unrealistic.As a committed Christian, I find the constant view of Christians as narrow-minded, sexually repressed hypocrites downright offensive as well as unrealistic. PLEASE people. Sex just happens to be God's idea, not ours! And yes indeed I know a few hypocrites who are Christians, but I also know a whole lot of non-Christian hypocrites as well. Hypocrisy, as well as every other moral failure, is to be found in the human race as a whole. And any serious Christian would surely know how severely Jesus judged the hypocrites of his day. At the least, the cardboard caricature of the priest was simply a crashing bore, reducing the plot lines to a childishly simple narrative of black and white without any coloration.The musical aspect of this film was the biggest disappointment to me. Having an extensive classical music background myself, heavily weighted with choral singing experience, I found the musical examples, and the behavior of all the choir folks, and Daniel in particular, to be cheesy, atypical, and as if musical ignoramuses had made this movie.Epic failure.

stephanlinsenhoff (On Mon, 2/16/09, Kay Pollak wrote: Date: Monday, February 16, 2009, 4:55 AM Hej Stephan! Thank you for your exiting view of the movie. I recognize many thoughts, we who have made the film, had during the shooting. Kay Pollak. If everybody has found it's own sound: than, only then:... In spite of being the most beloved Swedish film (seen by 1 158 415 visitors for 88 500 317 SEK) this movie failed to receive a single Swedish Golden Beetle, the most prestigious Swedish film award and nominated for an Oscar. Genuine Swedish, a movie by and for the Swedes: their film. Writer and lecturer for 'new age' management psychology and again-director Kay Pollak reaches with this movie the Swedish Everyman's heart, belonging to the social democratic proletarian culture – yesterdays Artur Artur Lundkvist, Harry Martinsson, Vilhelm Moberg, Eyvind Johnson, Gösta Gustav Jansson, Nils Bohman and today Marianne Fredriksson, Linda Olsson. The social democratic idea allows individual development when the group has "found it's sound". Daniels mother, aware of this, crosses the border, promising a school outside the Swedish establishment. The Swedish model was designed for the Swedish working class. This class-travel of social rise aimed education, a better salary, triggering transitional conflicts. For a time "The Marginal Man"/woman (1937, E. Stonequist). The kaypollakquestion: is in todays globalization yesterdays social democratic idea still sound and safe? The kaypollakanswer can be found in the movies beginning and ending. The between: love, jealousy, domestic violence, intolerance are common events. Vi hear the summer wind, moving the cornfield and the violin playing boy Daniel, interrupted by sequences of the conductor Daniels breakdown, beaten by the village boy Conny and his friends. The widowed mothers promise violates the Swedish social democratic basics. The end of the movie: Daniels death or dream? Finding in the cornfield the boy Daniel, lifting him up in his arms - while the choir, initiated by the disabled Tony starts without the conductor and eventual joined by the audience. In his absence he is among them. One of them. The steadily growing choir is prepared by Daniel Dareus for this moment. The Swedish choir, joined by the Austrian audience, demonstrates the poor Swedes 'richness' (CJL Almqvist, Svenska fattigdomens betydelse, 1838). Guided by disabled disability. Thus can yesterdays social democratic idea, transformed, in spite of Swedish capitalistic backyard-egoism, participate in globalization. When each has found it's own sound: then, only then: As it is in heaven ...or as Helene Sjöholms Gabriela sings: "I want to feel that I have lived my life."

richievee This movie is a disappointment. A nice premise falls flat when the lead character proves himself to be an idealistic wimp. Some of the supporting characters are well played, notably the two major female figures, Frida Hallgren and Helen Sjöholm as Lena and Gabriella. In typical fashion for a post-1960s film, the church is portrayed as corrupt and hypocritical, causing me to wonder anew whether there are any screenwriters or directors out there with a spiritual backbone. The so-called climax of the movie is laughably unconvincing, when an entire audience is won over by a motley choir voicing nonsense syllables on stage. (This ranks right down there with the ridiculous town hall meeting in "Field of Dreams" for shallow audience manipulation.) Don't bother with this promising flop. It does not deliver.