Customer Ratings & Reviews

This truly remarkable documentary about the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s sole symphony orchestra powerfully depicts the collective challenges facing the 16-year-old organization of amateur, mostly self-taught musicians, including: internal and external wars, poverty, disease and famine. The filmmakers balance this overall perspective with a sharp focus on a half-dozen individual musicians whose dedicated efforts to sustain and improve their artistry while struggling to make a living are representative of all 200 members. What the film does best, however, is capture the pure, transforming joy of creating music, no matter the circumstances or setting. To their credit, the filmmakers never preach or try to manipulate the viewer’s emotions; they simply let the strength and resilience and ambition of the musicians speak for itself. Their collective story is heartbreaking, eye-opening, surreal, often funny and profoundly uplifting.