Behind Every Piano Key ("The Piano" film review)

              “Silence is not necessarily the absence of both sound and words. For sometimes words can be heard even without sound.” This maxim was proven true in the movie “The Piano.”

            “The Piano” was about a mute petite woman named Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter) who did not consider herself silent because of her piano. She considered it as one of her most valuable possessions. Then one day, her father married him to Alistair Stewart (Sam Neill), a man she did not know. Ada and her daughter, Flora McGrath (Anna Paquin), were shipped to an island near a beach in New Zealand. Because of the hugeness of the piano, Alistair did not allow her to bring it with them. That’s why George Baines (Harvey Keitel) took the advantage of giving his piece of land to Alistair in exchange of Ada’s piano to make her fall in love with him. And she really did. And Alistair had nothing to do about it.

            Honestly, I was expecting so much from this movie. I heard a lot of positive feedbacks about it from various people. But when I had the chance to finally watch it, it seems like my expectations were violated. First of all, I think the characters were misrepresented. If they appointed younger-looking actors and actresses for the roles of Ada, George and Alistair, the love triangle could be more appealing. My classmate was also right by saying that she didn’t get the point of the story. I saw the plot as something ordinary. I was looking for something more, a twist maybe, but didn’t see one even at the end of the film.

            However, I found the technical aspects of the movie beautiful. It was as if the movie was really made during the time depicted in the film. There was no indication of 1993, the year when it was actually presented on the big screen. The costumes were excellent. They were intricately made and really matched the personalities of each character, most especially Ada. The lighting also made the movie even more realistic.

            Since the movie was not an allegory, it contained less symbols. Topping the list was the piano, of course. Because Ada couldn’t speak, she used the piano instead to communicate her emotions. Anyone who watched the film may have noticed that every song Ada played was parallel to what she felt inside. The keys of the piano, on the other hand, were a symbol of Ada and George’s love for each other. In the earlier parts of the film, we saw how George used the black key to make Ada love him. And the latter, in return, accepted and gave back the love former’s love by sending him one key with a note written on it stating, “Dear George you have my heart. Ada McGrath.” The ocean (or the sea or whatever it’s called) was also a symbol. It represented the kind of silence that made Ada choose life over death. She described the water surface below as having the kind of “silence that no sound may be.”

            As a whole, “The Piano,” for me, was really lacking something. But I also recognize the fact that people have different interpretations and views about certain things. For this reason, I’m still encouraging everyone to watch this film.