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THE JOURNEY ZONE

http://www.journey-zone.com




THE REVIEWS

June, 2002







Minority Report
Starring Tom Cruise and Max Von Sydow
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Release Date: 21 June 2002
Review Date: 22 June 2002

Two decades after Risky Business, forty-year-old Tom Cruise joins the ranks of such aging action stars as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwartzenegger in Minority Report, his latest release and first role directed by Steven Spielberg. Both are coming off solid losses, with Spielberg recovering from the sci-fi flop A.I. and Cruise attempting to rebound from last summer's romantic thriller Vanilla Sky, another non-starter. That coupled with the fact that I can list on both hands the decent science-fiction movies of the past four years, and one wonders at the confidence, and even outright gall, of Cruise and Spielberg to attempt to get back on track by making a film in this genre.

That being said, the film is an unmitigated success. Minority Report tackles the "not-too-distant future" theme with poise and finesse, and delivers a cinematic work that will not only keep your heart pounding and leave you breathless from the non-stop action (even in a "calm" moment, Cruise is attacked by semi-intelligent poisonous clinging vines), but will make you think about some of the deeper philosophical ramifications of the plot's basic premise.

The year is 2054, when our grandchildren will be our age, and in response to a rapid rise in the murder rate throughout the United States, Washington, D.C.'s experimental "Department of Pre-Crime" has been created to arrest offenders before murders are committed. Three "pre-cogs", the twenty-first century's answer to crack babies, are kept in a state of drugged torpor in a water-filled tank, where electrodes probe their brains for scenes of future murders. Cruise plays Detective John Anderton, the Chief of Pre-crime, who has suffered the loss of his own son and the estrangement of his wife. When the pre-cogs foresee that Anderton himself will soon commit a murder of his own, the film really heats up as Anderton's own team, and that of the Justice Department investigating Pre-crime for a possible nationwide application, find themselves chasing their most knowledgeable and talented "runner" yet, on a vertical highway, in federal housing projects that make today's slums look like suburbia, and even in a Lexus factory. And while the futuristic Washington of 2054 is barely recognizable, certain sets, like a pre-murderer's house in Woodley Park and the Pre-Crime headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue, are easy to recognize.

Swedish actor Max Von Sydow (A veteran of several films directed by Ingmar Bergman as well as The Exorcist, Pelle the Conqueror, Snow Falling on Cedars, Judge Dredd, and Hannah and Her Sisters, among many others) plays Anderton's boss, mentor, and friend, the founder and director of Pre-crime. While all the actors did excellent jobs, Von Sydow rises above the rest with a brilliant job which is only truly revealed as the chase continues.

Perhaps of equal importance to the fantastic sets, costumes, drama, and special effects are the philosophical ramifications of the very concept of pre-crime. The film's premise, after all, is not entirely farfetched; we live in a world where crime, justice, and punishment, and everything in between are the subject of fierce debate. In Minority Report, one of our most fundamental constitutional rights, the right to face one's accuser, is denied to every detainee brought in on information from the pre-cogs. None of these detainees is given the benefit of a trial, but rather all are held permanently in a state of drugged paralysis in vertical tubes extending deep into the basement of the Pre-crime building. All trials are held in absentia, in the electronic presence of one lawyer and the Chief Justice. The right to trial and the right to face one's accuser are two of the most cherished of our constitutional rights; these are checks which are intended to balance the overbearing power of a potentially dictatorial state. Apparently the Bill of Rights no longer applies in this vision of 2053, although some semblance of democracy remains: there is a scheduled national referendum approaching in which all U.S. citizens will be asked to vote on whether or not Pre-crime should be made national. One wonders, then, about the lengths we as a society are willing to go to, the steps we are willing to take, to ensure peace and tranquility in our society. Minority Report by no means presents a peaceful, tranquil society in the Washington D.C. of 2054. While the murder rate has dropped to zero, drug abuse is rampant even in the highest levels, and new sets of eyeballs (designed to fool identity detectors), and the "doctors" who install them, are readily available on the black market.

A second important philosophical question raised by the film pertains to the difference between pre-meditated murder and crimes of passion. No fundamental philosophical or even legal difference is presented in the the film between the two, but our own legal courts have strictly defined them as two very different types of murders. Put simply, a crime of passion occurs when an individual, in a moment of extreme duress, unable for the moment to think clearly of the repercussions of his actions, lashes out in an act of violence. A crime of passion is, unfortunately, something that is very human, something that most of us, in certain circumstances, are capable of committing, although we may otherwise be normal law-abiding citizens. Pre-meditated murder, on the other hand, is not an act under duress, and is not the act of a law-abiding citizen. The decision to plan and execute a murder is one of the most heinous crimes in our judicial system. The pre-crime system of Minority Report only differentiates between the two in it's assessment that pre-meditated crime in an era of pre-crime enforcement would be entirely foolish, giving the pre-crime detectives plenty of time to prevent the incident. In fact, pre-meditated murder, by the time of the film's narrative, is all but a thing of the past; only crimes of passion remain. And yet, the pre-culprits of each of these two distinct types of murder are treated exactly the same; each is detained indefinitely without trial and without a chance to face his accuser.

In sum, I recommend Minority Report to anyone interested in an action picture, seeing great acting, or discussing the philosophical ramifications of this particular vision of the future system of crime and punishment. I emerged from the theater both exhilirated and thoughtful.




World Tour 2002
American Russian Young Artists Orchestra
Leon Botstein, Conductor
Alexei Podkorytov, Piano
Mikhail Simonyan, Violin
Tour Dates:
Miami, Florida, June 14
Brevard, North Carolina, June 16
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, June 17
New York, New York, June 18
Yerevan, Armenia, June 22
Moscow, Russia, June 24
Novosibirsk, Russia, June 27
Saint Petersburg, Russia, June 29
Moscow, Russia, July 2
Review Date: 23 June, 2002

Last weekend I had the distinct honor to be invited to follow the American Russian Young Artists Orchestra (ARYO) to three dates on their fifteenth-anniversary world tour, and to assist the staff on two of those dates. I attended the Brevard, Harrisburg, and New York performances and was, frankly, amazed at what I saw and heard. The American Russian Young Artists Orchestra (which began in 1987 as the American Soviet Young Artists Orchestra) was the first cultural exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. It's purpose is to promote peace and understanding between two great powers through music performed by young people representative of both nations. Auditions are held for each tour in multiple cities in the U.S. and the former Soviet republics, and the honorary chairwomen of ARYO have been the first ladies of both nations, beginning in 1987 with Raisa Gorbachev and Nancy Reagan and continuing today with Ludmila Putina and Laura Bush. But at the true helm is ARYO President and Co-founder Edythe Holbrooke, a tireless advocate of this new kind of harmony, who works her staff hard and herself harder. Her dedication, it seems, has paid off: today ARYO is an internationally-acclaimed organization.

But aside from all that, there is the music, which has, as ARYO has proven, no boundaries that political turmoil or, for that matter, the problems that inevitably rise from life on the road, can create. The section of the tour which I was priviledged to witness was conducted by Leon Botstein (Director, American Symphony Orchestra; Editor, The Musical Quarterly; President, Bard College), under whose skilled supervision eighty-eight of the most talented young people in the world have mastered four complicated works (with only two weeks of pre-tour rehearsal): Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915), Piano Concerto in F-Sharp Minor, Op.20 (Alexei Podkorytov, soloist); Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978), Violin Concerto (Mikhail Simonyan, soloist); Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), Syphony No. 5; and Bela Bartok (1881-1945), Concerto for Orchestra.

Alexei Podkorytov's rendition of the Scriabin, which I heard from the twentieth row at the Brevard Music Festival and from the second row at Lincoln Center's Alice Tulley Hall in New York, is a relaxed, competent dialogue with the rest of the orchestra, ably moderated and encouraged by Botstein. There is an ebb and flow between the pianist and his fellows on the stage for this three-movement piece, each allowing the other time to shine, admittedly moreso for Podkorytov. At Twenty-three, this Novosibirsk native is currently pursuing his MA at the Juilliard School in New York, and his list of accomplishments reads like that of a prodigy, which he is. Ten years ago, at the age of thirteen, he won first prize in the Siberian Piano Competition and third prize in the international competition in Senaglia, Italy. His most recent award was first prize at the California 2000 International Young Artists Piano Competition.

The other soloist on the tour is Mikhail "Misha" Simonyan, a sixteen-year-old dynamo with an excellent ear for interpretation and amazing finger-work. I first met Misha two years ago, when he was fourteen, at the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. His skills have, if anything, only improved since then. I heard Misha from the first row at the Forum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and the second row in Alice Tulley Hall. Like the rock guitarist Neal Schon, who wowed audiences playing with Santana at the age of fifteen, young Simonyan wows them himself, playing the Khachaturian with an incredible skill in the way he handles each note at both the neck of his instrument and his bow. At moments, especially in the first movement, his fingers and bow are moving so quickly that they cannot be clearly distinguished, and yet one's ears can clearly make out each and every note, however brief. The only thing Neal Schon does that Misha has not done, at this point, is play behind his head. Having said that (and despite other rules of propriety), it is entirely possible that Misha may attempt such a feat if given the opportunity.

The drawbacks to the performance are three. The first is technical, and may have more to do with the selection of the Khachaturian or the skill of Botstein. But unlike Podkorytov, Simonyan appears to play against his accompaning orchestra, waiting (perhaps impatiently) for them to finish their sections of the score so that he can get back to his own playing, and then, when he is ready to pass the ball back to their end of the court, there is almost a hesitation, as if he sees his own as the only capable hands for the work (which they are not). The second is breath control. Misha, when he does breathe, breathes very loudly, and the sound is very obvious in the first several rows, detracting from an otherwise solid performance. One can only conjecture that this may have something to do with the consumption of tobacco, which appears to be appropriate in his homeland even for persons of his tender age. Finally, there is what I consider an issue of heart. Misha is technically very skilled, much more so than perhaps anyone his age. And while he can play, technically, at a level only dreamed of by most professional violinists in their twenties, he lacks the life experience, the heart, to give a real passion to his performance. Emotions such as anger, fear, desperation, hope, confidence, and love are only just beginning to be truly contemplated at an adult level by people his own age, and in that regard Misha is no exception, and this lack of experience is evident. But given time, and, most importantly, experience of the world, I see no reason why Misha Simonyan might not overcome this last obstacle to greatness.

The orchestra itself is fantastic. They received rave reviews by both the Miami Herald and the New York Times. When one hears them play, one can easily forget that not one of them is older than twenty-six. Many have had difficult backgrounds; all from the Russian contingent came of age (or will soon come of age) in the post-Soviet republics. They are being given a unique opportunity to travel to the west and play before audiences in four states. The American contingent are united by a desire to make a musical impact on audiences in both countries, and a genuine feeling that they are contributing to the furtherance of goodwill between two great nations. But perhaps what most impressed me about the orchestra was their very professionalism. Despite the large size of the group, it reached each destination that I attended in one piece and without major mishap. There would be an afternoon rehearsal, and then, wham! Right into the evening performance, which was always stellar.

Will you be in Eastern Europe next week? This is a highly entertaining experience that I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone within range of a ticket. Don't miss it! But if you do, ARYO will be back in the United States next year, with a brand-new group of young musicians (although probably with Podkorytov and Simonyan staying on as soloists), doing what it does best. For further information on the American Russian Young Artists Orchestra, log on to www.aryoonline.org.



Last Updated 14 April, 2004 (JRNYDV)