Dance, music and self-discovery come together in 'Rhythm is it!'

Paul F. Agusta, Contributor, Jakarta

"You can change your life in dance class!" exclaims renowned choreographer Royston Maldoom to a roomful of wide-eyed junior high and high school students awaiting his instructions in Rhythm is it!, an inspiring documentary on the life-affirming power that art possesses directed by Thomas Grube and Enrique Sanchez Lansch.

Rhythm is it! documents an ambitious arts project planned by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle in collaboration with Royston Maldoom to bring together 239 young people from the ages of 10 to 30 (almost 80 percent of them between the ages of 11 and 17) from problem areas in Berlin and under Maldoom's tutelage, train them to dance well enough to perform in a grand presentation of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring).

The film is told through five main protagonists involved in this ambitious project:

Sir Simon Rattle, whose passion for music and the belief in its power for change, is the driving force behind this entire project. This endeavor also marks Rattle's first season directing the Berlin philharmonic.

Royston Maldoom, the choreographer and disciplinarian, has made it his own personal mission to take these kids out of whatever shells are holding them back, forcing them to express themselves.

By the end of the project, Maldoom not only successfully created dancers, but he also helped many young men and women discover their true passions and their true selves.

Marie is a 14 year-old who is desperate to finally pass the exams that will take her out of secondary school, but always fails to find enough motivation to drive her to her goal. Throughout the dance project, Marie is able to tap into the motivational energy that had long evaded her.

Olayinka is a 16-year-old orphan of the Nigerian civil war who made his own way to Germany when he was 15. His involvement in the project helps him to deal with the sudden changes in his life and adjust to his new home by not only forcing him to speak German but also by getting him to open up and make new friends.

Martin, a 19-year-old boy who had always kept to himself, had a lot of personal emotional barriers to break through. Inspired by Maldoom, Martin pushes himself to knock down his inhibitions during the project.

One of the tests of a good film is whether or not the characters grow throughout the progression of the story. In Rhythm is it! this growth is witnessed in not only the young participants, but also in the older facilitators of the project.

The interviews utilized by the filmmakers, as well as the candid moments during the classes, should have been powerful enough to carry this film. However, directors Grube and Lansch must not have thought so.

The cinematography is over-stylized for no apparent reason and already dramatic moments and stories are infused with just a little extra dose of drama that may make the audience feel as though they've had their buttons pushed a bit.

Another thing that seemed lacking in this film was the extremely brief depiction of the actual performance that these people had worked so very hard to prepare. The meager three minutes shown of the final presentation of Le Sacre du Printemps leaves a slightly anticlimactic feeling to an otherwise engaging film.

Overall, Rhythm is it! is a film worth watching by anyone who has an appreciation for dance, classical music, and the growth of the human spirit.