User Reviews

In the middle of a war in the Middle East, Armida is a Muslim female reporter who must go to report on the actions of the Western troops in the desert. Rinaldo meanwhile is just one of many soldiers unsure of why he is there and not totally convinced by his role within the country. When Armida arrives in the desert with her producer to shoot some footage, all the soldiers are put on best behaviour to present a clean face to the media, although Rinaldo catches Armida's eye. However their mutual attraction is threatened by the difference in their political views.

For all the criticisms of channel 4, the one thing you cannot accuse it of is being solely a ratings chaser. OK, so the primetime schedules do tend to be cluttered with Big Brother and endless, painful repeats of Friends but the nights and very early mornings are ripe with short films, documentaries and unusual finds such as this film. For even in this digital age you can't imagine that the audience share is going to be anything other than small for a modern opera adapting a 16th century poem about the relationship between Rinaldo (a Christian crusader) and Armida (a Muslim witch) set in the middle of an unnamed war in the Middle East. However I was one of those people that decided to see what it was like out of curiosity having read in The Guardian how challenging it was to make (although for the record I'm more of a Times man and thus not totally target audience for this!).

It is also worth noting that I've never been a big fan of opera because it is very much an acquired taste in terms of music. And really that was the main problem that I had with the film, because the music didn't engage me and it made the dialogue hard to understand at times. It also reduced the ability of the cast to emote somewhat and the cold, crisp way of singing (in my opinion) took away from what is essentially a passion tale of love and war. Of course this is my problem and it is unfair to criticise an opera for being an opera! Other than this I found much to enjoy in both the love story but also in the modern, anti-war setting. The story focuses on the former but also has themes on the latter running through it. That I enjoyed the love story is down to the abilities of Trevigne and Tarver, they made a convincing couple but also had the ability to produce more. I assume both are used to stage opera so credit should be given for them being able to tone down the acting to be suitable for the screen. The supporting cast are not so convincing as actors but nobody is that weak. Williams' direction is good and uses the locations well even if the budget limitations do show through in some scenes (most notably the sparsely populated desert camp).

Overall I was glad I watched this film because it was different and interesting. The opera may put many off (I admit that it took me a while to get into) but the story works and, although it doesn't help that much, the delivery and the music didn't get in the way. The lead players are fine singers but also good actors while both Trevigne and Tarver are attractive and convincing. Of course those familiar with the story and fans of opera are going to get the most from it but it is interesting and creative enough to be worth a look from the casual viewer.

There was much media hilarity over the fact that this opera, broadcast by Channel 4 on Christmas Day, managed to pull an audience of only 300000, half of whom, in a postprandial stupor probably thought they were watching the Eastenders pantomime. Looked at another way: if this opera were staged at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden it would have to run to full houses every night for six months in order to reach a similar-sized audience. So let us, instead, regard it as a triumph for Channel 4 and for Judith Weir in getting such a wide viewing for her new opera.

Armida is supposed to be based on Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata This poem has been much used as a source for operatic libretti but the source material here does not go much further than naming the characters: there is Rinaldo, a soldier and Armida, a television war correspondent. Is Judith Weir telling us that a TV journalist is the modern day equivalent of a witch? We see Armida in her studio, we see Rinaldo being disenchanted in the desert. Then we have some other soldiers grumbling, rather amusingly about fighting a desert war in waterproof boots designed for the Falklands. Then Rinaldo and Armida drive off together, the end. The cast are attractive and sing well. I particularly liked the soprano Donna Bateman who sings the part of the weather-girl although I did not understand what relevance she had to the plot.

Judith Weir's music consists of pretty but unmemorable tunes set to a pleasant tinkly accompaniment. The singing was not operatic in style, it was more sotto voce. The singers were apparently miming but I would not have known if I had not read the pre-broadcast publicity. I suppose it's easier to mime quiet singing because you are not putting so much effort into it. I have often wondered what opera would have been like if it had been invented after the microphone rather than 300 years before. I had tended towards the conclusion that it would sound a bit like a Stephen Sondheim musical but Judith Weir provides an alternative answer. Armida is a worthy attempt to bring opera into the 21st century, a failure but an interesting one.

I do say this as a big opera fanatic. Coming across new operas can go either way for me, but I always try to admire them for making an effort to maintain some interest value. This production, seeing it for the first time 6/7 years ago on Channel 4(I saw it again on taped video recently), is interesting, but I'll be honest in saying that I didn't care for the opera all that much. I liked the love story I will say, but I did find that the overall story took a great deal of time to get into and the characters while a long way from annoying didn't come across as interesting to me. That is a big reason why a lot of the supporting cast, excepting Donna Bateman, came across as cold and static to me. Then there's the music, actually the composition of the music is very pleasant and beautifully orchestrated, but there is always the question of whether it is memorable and for me it wasn't really. The production does look great though, the settings show some very evocative detail. The music is played by the orchestra with lovely tone and some evidence of involvement with the score. The leadership is also strong and sympathetic. The singing is very good as well, the two leads are at least appealing and the singing of the rest of the cast are just as good. I just wish it was matched by the acting, but that wasn't to be. All in all, interesting but not for me. 6/10 Bethany Cox