The Phantom Of The Opera is here. Review on The Phantom Of the Opera Movie

A male friend of mine who is a brilliant pianist and accompanies me on a number of occasions once played me a piece that seemed so familiar,yet haunting. It was the title piece of this stupendous musical 'The Phantom of the Opera.' I'm a fan of Andrew LLoyd Webber and think he is one of the greatest composers of our time.So I naturally bugged my pal to play me this piece each opportunity I had. I didn't know the plot of the musical but I fell in love with the meaningful, passionate and breathtaking soundtrack. The title song heralds well...the phantom, a mysterious figure who for the first 15 minutes or so of the movie is anonymous. You look forward to a strong character to hit the screen the moment you allow yourself to lose your mind to his voice (which must say is ..............awesome!) Throughout the plot of the musical-turned-movie, the protagonist, Christine-a sweet innocent and naive girl renders a soulful twist with her voice echoing the pain, confusion, even pleading mercy most of the times. Her voice has ben trianed by this anonymous phantom who sings to her in her dreams and who apparently is obsessed and in love with her. The night at the opera that Christine gets her opportunity to sing the lead song, (cause Minnie Driver meets with n accident--she is an awesome actor!) is also the start of the tumultous unfolding of the plot. The phantom decides that he wants Christine to see the real him...Raoul, the benefactor of the opera and a long-lost sweetheart re-enters her life and heart. Poor Christine is torn between loyalty to th 'voice' and her rekindled infatuation for Raoul. She decides on the latter and that seems to irk dear old Phantom...so he sets out on revenge-seeking spree...stating that if he can't have her...he will kill her and her beau...and that's what he begins to do...the movie is set in dungeons (the phantom's lair) on many scenes so you it gives a desperaingly gloomy,yet foreboding and melancholic aura to the movie. And yes...it is filled with songs...it is a musical for godsakes! I say this because annoyingly so, many in our country fail to appreciate Hollywood musicals...many of my friends would screw up their noses and say...it has songs (in reference to whether they liked Moulin ROughe), yet rush off to see the latest Bollywood flick, albeit full of 'lifted' tunes....On that subject, have you seen Rekha crooning to a Hindi version of ''A Kiss to build a dream on?'' Music directors and 'composers' need a mandatory degree in 'originality and ethics, dont ya agree? Anyway, the movie did not gain all the reviews and publicity it should ideally have received...but nevertheless, its a good watch..if you like musicals!Well, I could go on and on listening to The Music of the Night!