Swedish writer/director Kay Pollack explained that his wife was the inspiration for this film. “She sang in a choir and I used to pick her up. I listened to the choir and studied it, and I gradually realised what a metaphor for humanity a choir is.” The choir in this film is in the small frozen village that venerated Swedish conductor Daniel Dareus (Michael Nyqvist) had grown up in. As a child, he had a dream to create music that would open people’s hearts but now all he sees is the insides of airplanes, hotels, taxis and concert halls as his agent has the next eight years fully booked with performances.
The jet-setting lifestyle comes to an end when a heart attack clears his calendar and the maestro returns to the remote town of his birth. He buys the old schoolhouse and reluctantly becomes involved with the local church choir. He finds that little has changed and the childhood bullies he escaped from are now the adults in the isolated village. These intimidating characters range from those who taunt those less fortunate than themselves to wife-beaters; from a hell and damnation priest who preaches repression to those who stand by and don’t speak out.
But sometimes life develops a momentum of its own and before we know it, we are careering down a path that is far removed from the one we started out on. Daniel’s singers find their voices; the choir members begin to outnumber the churchgoers and people begin to emerge from their hibernation as the music brings joy to their lives. The women in particular are making stances against the fears that have held them back. As the choir reaches its perfect soaring harmony, the audience’s spirits also get carried higher with the magnificent soundtrack.
As It Is In Heaven runs for 130 minutes and screens at Somerville 26 Feb – 4 March and Joondalup Pines 5-11 March.
