Angeli o quasi

I saw this many years ago as a boy soprano and came home wanting to be in the choir. I got a VHS copy on ebay a few days ago and watched it again -- it probably will affect today's kids differently. (But I mean to show it in episodes to my kid's choir at church anyway.) The movie is about the odd and beautiful thing that is an accomplished boys choir. How odd it strikes us that these kids respond to the musician's discipline, they strive for excellence, and they connect with great music. Are they from another planet? This movie bears a compelling witness to an alternative to how we could view the future men of our society.

The plot provides just enough of an excuse for the wonderful music and scenery. This is not an example of great visual story telling. It has a scrubbed Disney look and feel, but it's not even up to Disney's standards. In one scene you see the camera's shadow on the wall before it dollys back out of the light. But take it for what it is: it lets you see and hear something good and fine that you might never otherwise experience.

Almost Angels would certainly benefit from a digital remastering, because the pictures and the music deserve to be as vivid as possible.(But who knows why Disney does anything? "We've got a lot of terrific material - let's lock it in the vault and not sell it to anybody, okay?" "Great idea, chief!")