Riot at the Rite (2005)

I am a musician and a composer. To me this solitary event will always stand out as one of the monumental leaps in music. So much so that its reverberations spanned the entire 20th century, are felt today and will do so for a very long time. This is to explain my maximum rating of a "10". When I first heard this music in my teens, I was mesmerized so much so that I read everything about it and finally purchased the full score for my own study.

How does this relate to the achievement in this film? I believe that no film will ever capture the entire compass of a story, an idea, a person, or an event. But this film nearly did for me in so many ways. Some have stated that the actual event was much wilder and this reenactment was wanting. The point is that the moment in history has been sealed in "celluloid". Suffice it to say that those voices of dissent from the present and the past have been silenced and what is left is Stravinsky's genius and Nijinsky's legacy which live on for as long as we have life on this earth.

First, I must praise the acting performance of ADAM GARCIA. I had heard of him before this but I was drawn to his performance of the tragic Nijinsky who spent most of his life in and out of asylums and hospitals. Although this long episode in his life did not begin immediately after his performances of the "Rite of Spring", in Adam's performance we began to see his schizophrenic tendencies. It was this singular performance that was at the heart of the movie. The measured intensity of Nijinsky's genius was reflected in how Adam's characterization allowed us to witness the near-break down near the end. I cannot praise Adam enough for the privilege of this experience.

As for the entire work as a whole, we saw a remarkable cast, a stellar crew and a fine director put on a show which will be hard to ever forget. One that will be engraved in my memory for a long time and one, that has erased Nureyev's self-indulgent portrayal of Nijinsky from my mental repertoire for good. THIS is he Nijinsky that the world should begin to know and understand.