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      The Death of Klinghoffer

      2003 2h 0m Musical Drama List
      57% 7 Reviews Tomatometer 57% 50+ Ratings Audience Score In this adaptation of the John Adams opera based on historical events, several armed Palestine Liberation Organization operatives hijack the Achille Lauro cruise ship and hold its passengers hostage. The ship's captain (Christopher Maltman) unsuccessfully tries to reason with the terrorists; meanwhile, Leon Klinghoffer (Sanford Sylvan), a wheelchair-bound Jewish captive, takes a bolder approach by passionately challenging the ideals of Molqui (Tom Randle), one of the head hijackers. Read More Read Less

      Critics Reviews

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      Joshua Kosman San Francisco Chronicle Sellars' original staging was a stylized, almost pageant-like affair, which allowed the creators to claim descent for the piece from Bach's Passions. Without that fig leaf, the ugliness at the heart of the work ... becomes all the more apparent. Rated: 1/4 Oct 31, 2003 Full Review Film Threat Rated: 3.5/5 Dec 6, 2005 Full Review Film Threat Rated: 1.5/5 Dec 6, 2005 Full Review Mark Athitakis Filmcritic.com Woolcock mostly makes the film work visually -- she's excellent at the pointed close-up and frenzied camera movements. Rated: 3/5 Apr 18, 2003 Full Review Arthur Lazere culturevulture.net Uses the film medium to amplify the sense of the historic sweep of events and the tragedy of conflict amongst peoples for a safe haven on an ever shrinking, ever more contentious planet. Apr 18, 2003 Full Review Phil Hall Film Threat Jolting, imaginative adaptation of the John Adams opera, though some people may be bothered by the film's aggressive anti-Israeli political message. Rated: 3.5/5 Apr 3, 2003 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member John Adams' intensely moving oratorio is lent a visceral immediacy in Penny Woolcock's superb Channel 4 film. Reaction to Adams' piece has been shrill and unhelpfully partisan. The great strength of his and librettist Alice Goodman's collaboration is its fairness to all sides, and how terrible acts have their genesis in unresolvable pain. Woolcock's film dramatises these themes with great economy, and the performances of her singers - recorded live - are exemplary. A great opera, a great film. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member I first caught a glimpse of this film on TV years ago; the scene I remember was of a guy thrown off a white boat and drowned (looked like an 80s movie), but what made it special was the dialogue was all sung in opera. This made me fascinated in this movie for years, for I never knew the title. Finally, thanks to a couple of similar sources to the scene I remember, I found out the name of the movie, and having seen familiar clips online, I knew what I was looking for and decided to buy it immediately. Well, having seen it, I have to say this movie's okay. It drags on at parts and you lose track of interest in the characters that way. But it's not that bad. What this movie tries to do is something new: a true story of a terrorist hijacking, set to traditional opera. Almost everyone sings their dialogue. It's humorous, but serious. That alongside the music adds to the impact on the scenes you see. It's that only charm that makes the movie fascinating to watch. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this as a movie you'd watch again and again. The only moment in this movie I'll remember is the scene I first saw on TV years ago. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member The music is fantastic and the cast does a good job, but it suffers a little in translation to the screen. I've never seen it staged, so I have nothing to compare it to, but it seemed a little lackluster. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Audience Member While the opera The Death of Klinghoffer seems like a dubious enough proposition to begin with, turning that opera into a movie was just an all around bad idea. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Un opéra saisissant, très actuel porté par une réalisation surprenante pour le genre et des comédiens/chanteurs époustouflants. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member If Gotz Friedrich set the archetype for how to film opera with "Salome," Penny Woolcock played against form and went documentary-style to great success, in this context of terrorism which most of us thankfully experience so far in the form of mere broadcast news. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis In this adaptation of the John Adams opera based on historical events, several armed Palestine Liberation Organization operatives hijack the Achille Lauro cruise ship and hold its passengers hostage. The ship's captain (Christopher Maltman) unsuccessfully tries to reason with the terrorists; meanwhile, Leon Klinghoffer (Sanford Sylvan), a wheelchair-bound Jewish captive, takes a bolder approach by passionately challenging the ideals of Molqui (Tom Randle), one of the head hijackers.
      Director
      Penny Woolcock
      Producer
      Yan Younghusband
      Screenwriter
      Alice Goodman
      Production Co
      Channel 4 Television Corporation, Blast Films Ltd.
      Genre
      Musical, Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (DVD)
      Dec 16, 2003
      Runtime
      2h 0m
      Sound Mix
      Surround