Music of the Heart is pretty predictable. If you've seen Goodbye Mr. Chips, To Sir With Love, Educating Rita, Dead Poet's Society, Dangerous Minds, and/or Mr. Holland's Opus you pretty much know what to expect. What is a little unexpected is that this inspirational and moving film is directed by screammeister Wes Craven (Scream, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc., etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum).

Even though the story has been told before this is based on the true story of a woman struggling to teach violin in East Harlem. Meryl Streep plays Roberta, a mother with two children, who has been deserted by her husband. A friend encourages her to apply for this teaching job and the rest of the story is fairly predictable.

In spite of its predictability, the film has some very touching moments and is truly inspirational. Meryl Streep at her worst is better than most actors at their best, and Streep is excellent in this role. Add a great supporting cast that includes Angela Bassett, Gloria Estefan, Cloris Leachman and Aidan Quinn, and you have a well-told story with a tried and true theme. Technically, Run, Lola, Run is the more innovative film, but there is a message in Music of the Heart that rings true and inspires. I thought of Bob Briner as I watched this film. Bob's message of roaring lambs is consistent with the theme of Music of the Heart. We should spend less time cursing the darkness, and more time lighting candles. We waste too much time lamenting the emptiness and void of a postmodern world. The message of Music of the Heart is that instead of lamenting the silence, we should burst forth in song.

Music Of The Heart was a pleasant and interesting throwback to old Hollywood when they had no fear in making films about classical music and those who play it. Meryl Streep received one of her innumerable Best Actress Oscar nominations for playing Roberta Guaspari who creates and heads a program for inner city youth.

It's not that Streep has the most impressive of resumes when she applies for the job with Principal Angela Bassett. But music is not a big priority in school funding. But she happens to have purchased 50 violins from abroad for another of her projects. That kind of donation no principal can pass up so Streep gets the job.

The film divides neatly in half showing first Streep's early days in creating her violin class and then secondly trying to keep it alive during one of those perennial financial crisis that public education always seems to be having. In the tradition of Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, what do we do but put on a show.

The film this really reminds of is a Samuel Goldwyn Production from the late Thirties titled They Shall Have Music. Gene Reynolds plays an inner city kid who also learns the violin and gets to appear with none other than Jascha Heifetz in a show.

Music Of The Heart sees your Heifetz with an Isaac Stern and raises with among others Itzhak Perlman and a number of classical artists who make guest appearances and support Streep and her program. The result, as this is a throwback film to old Hollywood need I tell you?

Streep has her personal problems as well, she was a Navy wife who has split from her husband and has two sons, both of whom she has raised to appreciate classical music. She gives all to her kids and her program and loses a few men who'd like to get something going with her, among them Aidan Quinn. She also moves into the East Harlem area where she teaches and truly enters the fabric of her pupil's lives.

She gets good support from a nicely chosen ensemble cast, but this film is truly the personal property of Meryl Streep and is joyously recommended to one and all who like classical music.

Roberta Guaspari (Meryl Streep) and her two kids move back home with her mom Assunta (Cloris Leachman) after her husband run off with her friend. She never made it as a concert violinist and teach sparingly as she is pulled around the world by her navy husband. An old friend Brian Turner (Aidan Quinn) directs her to Principal Janet Williams (Angela Bassett) who reluctantly hires her as a substitute music teacher in the East Harlem inner city school. All the teachers hate her except Isabel Vasquez (Gloria Estefan).

It's a pretty traditional biopic by director Wes Craven who usually does horror. It's not a particularly original true story but it's an effective one. The most impressive thing in this is Meryl Streep. She holds the movie together. There are all the classic hurdles like the intransigent teachers, poverty, angry parents, violent neighborhood, and tough luck kids. Through it all, Streep works her butt off pulling the right heartstrings.