FROM MAO TO MOZART: ISAAC STERN IN CHINA

US, 1981, 84 minutes, Colour.
Isaac Stern, David Golub.
Directed by Murray Lerner.

From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China is an Oscar-winning documentary.

The film is fascinating in its presentation of violinist celebrity Isaac Stern. Stern has had a long career in the United States: as performer, teacher, celebrity involved in concerts and film (from supplying John Garfield's hands in Humoresque to the music in Fiddler on the Roof). Stern emerges as a charming personality, tolerant of people, open to different cultures in his visit to China and a master teacher. The sequences with him observing China, performing, teaching, discussing the value of pianos etc. give a portrait of a gentleman.

The film is also interesting in its presentation of western music being viewed by the Chinese. The performances are interesting. The Chinese responsive to it. It has been suggested that music be a way of the meeting of minds and hearts between East and West.

The film is also interesting in its presentation of China: the tourists are able to move about the country extensively, seeing the communist way of life, the remoteness of China which was encouraged in Chairman Mao's time and the beginnings of repercussions of the opening up to the West. The humanity of the Chinese is very evident even though the memories of Mao's regime and especially of the cultural revolution are quite powerful. Interviews with people who suffered even the most humiliating and excruciating of tortures is most impressive for highlighting the indomitable human spirit.

The film is valuable in its presentation of music and art and human response to it. The film is valuable as being a record of China and its cultural changes in the second part of the 20th. century. The film is also an encouraging and hopeful film offering hope in human nature despite so much suffering in our times.