rarindra prakarsa I've watched this movie during 9 hours flight from Dubai to Jakarta. And the only movie I watched till the end. It really moved me. Music and the other kind of arts really the best language to unite different cultures. It really the big idea from big person like Yo Yo Ma. The editing of this film really amazing and create a beautiful story. Bravo

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "The Music of Strangers" is an American English-language movie from last year (2015). It runs for slightly over 1.5 hours and was directed by Morgan Neville, Oscar winner for "20 Feet from Stardom". And as much as I was disappointed with the latter, I am equally disappointed with this more recent work we have here. The center of it is famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma and we meet several members of his Silk Road orchestra. With this name, you obviously immediately understand that this is as much of a cultural project as it is a political. On a side-note, it is a bit of an equivalent of Daniel Barenboim's recent project (an orchestra that includes Israeli and Palestinean musicians). Ma, however, has people from all over the world, also countries far far away from the Silk Road, such as Spain or the United States. A lot of the focus is about Yo-Yo Ma himself and his life as a musician. We see interviews from decades ago where we find out what his view on things was back then.In addition to that we find out about some other members of the orchestra, for example an Iranian who struggles with his country's politics and the fact that he can not speak freely because his wife/girlfriend still lives there. Or a Spanish female singer who brings the spirit of the soil to the group. The latter reference already tells you that this is a fairly pretentious film on several occasions. Not only did I feel that I did not learn much at all about the music, the people's backgrounds or the concept of the orchestra in general, this lack of information was tried to get hidden behind an accumulation of seemingly important quotes and references (some downright poetic) and to me personally almost all of it rang pretty fake and scripted and staged. And honestly, why would we care what any of the people in here did on 911. It was a tragic day yes, but the reference to this film/project felt so non-existent to me.On a more positive note, the music is sometimes fine, even if I felt the musicians overacted a lot while performing. But honestly, I found most of the people depicted in here pretty unlikable and there are some cringeworthy sequences in there too, for example when Ma makes a joke about the sound of a noisy horse fart and everybody finds it oh so funny. Or the part when the one guy brings flutes to children and they exaggerate it all that it is oh so forbidden and that he is smuggling these and it is all so risky, but he is such a good guy and doesn't care about the risks. Guess what! It's risky? Do not film it. I am sure nobody suspected anything with a film crew accompanying the man. Cringeworthy stuff. This documentary has almost nothing to offer from the informative standpoint and if you want to hear the music, I suggest you just listen to a record from the ensemble or see them live. The experience is certainly much better than the one you get from watching this movie. 4 stars out of 10 is almost too generous. Big thumbs-down from me.

dromasca Music documentaries can be fascinating in many cases. This is the case of The Music of Strangers, the documentary produced and directed by Morgan Neville which tells the story of the wonderful musical adventure and inter-culture experience which is 'The Silk Road' ensemble and organization started in 1998 by the famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma.The documentary deals both with the initial phases of the project (based on filmed material from their first encounters around the year 2000) and its later evolution. While the value of the cultural interaction is quite well presented, there is less mention if at all about the novelty of the approach of gathering together artists with very different backgrounds and having them play music in a fusion mode that was maybe acceptable in jazz, but much less in classical music where many of them (including Yo-Yo Ma) came from. Actually Ma is a pioneer from this perspective, using his almost pop star reputation to bring classical music to the wider audiences, but also the music of people and peoples to the classical musicians world.There is no central story telling in the film which mainly builds itself by the interleaved personal stories told by Yo-Yo Ma and a few of the musicians, their own perspective about the work in the the ensemble, the interaction with other musicals, and their philosophies about the scope and the benefits of the project. We have the opportunity to meet Chinese lute virtuous Wu Man and hear her speaking about the challenges of learning and making music in China immediately after the Cultural Revolution, and Spanish bagpiper Cristina Pato about building her path as a woman artist in a less developed area of Spain, we see Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh talking about his feelings about making music while his country is torn by war, and Iranian musician Kayhan Kalhor telling the story of his family broken by the political situation in his country and by exile. Most of all we see their opening to dialog and artistic collaboration, their passion of talking and especially playing music. A few of the meetings, concerts, family reunions and activities of volunteering with refugees are caught also on record.Watching them is a fascinating and beautiful cultural and musical experience.

lews22 This movie is screening in New Zealand as part of the International Film Festival.It is one of the most moving films I have seen in a long time. Yo Yo Ma and the other members of the Silk Road Ensemble are not only brilliant musicians, they are inspirational human beings.Their passion for music and their ability to blend the music of different cultures is fully on display in the movie; sometimes their music filled me with joy; at other times it moved me to tears.The most moving scene for me was to see the two Syrian members of the Ensemble going into the Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan and reaching out to the children their with their music and their message of hope. I defy anyone to watch it with dry eyes. Truly a movie for the times we are living in.