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‘Nosferatu’: A different movie watching experience
He’s behind you: The Batavia Madrigal Singers sing the new composition of “Nosferatu – A Symphony of Horror” on Saturday at the Teater Besar in the Taman Ismail Marzuki Cultural Center in Jakarta
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span class="inline inline-left">He’s behind you: The Batavia Madrigal Singers sing the new composition of “Nosferatu – A Symphony of Horror” on Saturday at the Teater Besar in the Taman Ismail Marzuki Cultural Center in Jakarta. (Courtesy of Goethe-Insitut Jakarta)
Can you imagine watching a horror movie–silent one, accompanied by a live performance by choir and orchestra? A mix of frightening and fine entertainment.
Spectators packed out the Teater Besar at Taman Ismail Marzuki Cultural Park in Central Jakarta on Saturday for a totally different experience in movie going. The screening of Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror was accompanied by about 100 musicians from Capella Amadeus and the Batavia Madrigal Singers
A new score for the movie was composed by Pierre Oser, a musician and conductor of the concert, which was presented by the Goethe-Institut Jakarta and the German Embassy in as a continuation of the JERIN project (Germany and Indonesia: Creativity in Diversity).
Pierre Oser has an obsession with silent movies, a very special kind of art which comes from the traditions of music theatre.
“A silent movie needs a concert hall, an orchestra, a choir and an audience. It’s like an opera, it’s theatre. It is very different from a Hollywood blockbuster that you can watch on your DVD player at home,” said Pierre.
“I am proud to perform the world premiere of the new score together with so many amazing Indonesian singers and musicians in Jakarta and Bandung. I am excited to see the reaction of the Indonesian audience.”
In answer to his expectations, on the first day of the concert, the three tier hall was occupied with with a very international audiences plus a lot of Indonesians.
The 1922 movies Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (A Symphony of Horror) was one of the German horror classics directed by F. W. Murnau. It is an adaptation from Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula and is one of the first representative horror films. Nosferatu was born into the golden age of art and of the cinema itself. Murnau’s work is a theatrical symphony which unites all of the artistic aspects of his other work.
“It is one of the best movies of all time,” said film director Garin Nugroho, who opened the evening with an introduction and contextualization of the 90-year old classic. “Murnau once said, ‘I like the reality of things, but not without fantasy — they must dovetail’.”
Murnau’s film consistently combines contrary and contrasting elements: reality and imagination, technology and mysticism, sex and death, and so on.
After the introduction, the lights were dimmed and the powerful opening music by the Batavia Madrigal Singers and Capella Amadeus began.
Count Orlok from Transylvania wants to purchase an isolated house in small German town. Hutter, a real estate agent, leaves his innocent wife, Ellen, with some friends while he visits the count.
The count’s castle is suitably spooky and the local residents somewhat petrified. Hutter manages to sell the count a house, but he notices unusual occurrences, for example the count sleeps all day and only comes out at night. Hutter eventually sees the count asleep in a crypt, and deduces he must be a vampire. Hutter then races the count back to Germany in attempt to save the sainted Ellen from the vampire’s claws.
The film as a whole is not all that horrifying by modern standards. Some scenes, when Orlock carries his own coffin as he moves from place to place, for example, are downright comical. The audience chuckled.
When both music and the film were over is was clear thar Pierre Oser, Batavia Madrigal Singer, and Capella Amadeus had done great work.
“It was really great. The music, the film, I love it!” exclaimed Syahnagra Ismail, outside the theatre after the show ended. The 59-year-old painter left the room with a happy face. The show was satisfying, he said.
According to Syahnagra, it is important to encourage Indonesian audiences to have new film experiences. Not just mainstream movies, nor even the sinetron (television soap opera), “but the good ones like what we had tonight”, he emphasized.
He believes that the culture of one’s nation can be measured by the improvement of their film, art and the culture itself.
