Red Violin

The Red Violin offers some interesting messages about the universality of the language of music. The acting and sets are spectacular, and the actors through the eras do very credible jobs of playing the magical violin. Lastly, the secret of the red violin's color turns out to be an apt symbol for the level of commitment that true musical devotion demands. The Red Violin takes its audience on a journey spanning five countries and three centuries. As the violin passes into five principal lives, each tells a story of both hope and greed. Violin maker Nicolo, set aside his best violin as a gift to his unborn child. His wife Anna inquires from her housekeeper and Tarot reader about the child's life. Anna is instructed to choose five cards. As each card in interpreted, we follow the life of the violin as it interacts with each person who eventually possesses it. Through the tragedy of Anna and her child's death, we learn the card reading is also for the Red Violin--call it Bussotti's other c...