Watch: A choir film to break your hearts

V.Lind says:

Yes, it’s charming. But it sends out mixed signals. It attests to the “give everyone a prize” theory of school races, where nobody “loses” and everybody “wins.” Can’t see the choir’s inclusion policy working in the basketball team.

Either it is an inclusionary choir — in which case is is an activity and SHOULD be open to all — or it is an elite choir, made up of the members good enough for competition. This is usually managed by audition, and would result in some members being left behind in competition outings. The villain of the piece is obviously the choir mistress, who seems to want all the love AND all the prizes. The children’s revenge is predictable, sweet, and unlikely (when did that many children ever cooperate so seamlessly?). But the messages were muddled.

It was indeed moving — the children were wonderful, and the story just good enough to hold me (I thought they might all turn out to be Roma kids, or whatever). No surprise it won an Oscar indeed — quite well made, and sentimental, and morally indefensible.