Product Details

• Actors: Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, Caracas Children's Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel, Jose Antonio Abreu
• Directors: Paul Smaczny, Maria Stodtmeier
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Surround Sound, Widescreen
• Language: Spanish
• Subtitles: English, French, German
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: EUROARTS
• DVD Release Date: October 27, 2009
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002N5KDYI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,289 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Winnipeg Free Press, James Manishen, December 29, 2009

2009 Year in Review: Aught-nine oughta hears

The story of Venezuela's phenomenal music education system, founded over 30 years ago by José Antonio Abreu to bring music to the lives of kids from Caracas's shanty towns, is one of the most powerful you will ever see.

Product Description

A film by Paul Smaczny and Maria Stodtmeier. Venezuela's unique system of music education takes children from violent slums and turns some of them into world-class musicians. 'El Sistema' shows how Venezuelan visionary Jose Antonio Abreu has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of children over the past three decades. This lyrical and moving documentary takes us from the rubbish dumps and barrios of Caracas to the world's finest concert halls. Children from streets dominated by the gun battles of gang warfare are taken into music schools, given access to music, and taught through the model of the symphony orchestra how to build a better society. Paul Smaczny and Maria Stodtmeier's film finds hope and joy in unlikely places.

'I have nothing but admiration for Jose Antonio Abreau's commitment (in both a cultural and a social context). What he has achieved with El Sistema and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra is simply unique in the world.' -- Claudio Abbado


'The future of classical music lies in Venezuela.' -- Sir Simon Rattle

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Miracle, October 7, 2009

By 

Linda McDougall "lindamcdougall" (Guanajuato, Mexico) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: El Sistema: Music to Change Life (DVD)

As I am in the music field in Mexico,trying with others to make the same project work here, I was able to see this extraordinary documentary several months ago. It was a private showing, and almost the entire audience, friends,maestros, musicians, were weeping through it - deeply moved and filled with hope.
They'd already seen or owned "Tocar y Luchar", the first beautiful film on El Sistema, but now Maria Stodmeier and Paul Smaczny have gone deeper, and have captured what is beyond words. Their general response of unmitigated admiration for El Sistema's founder, José Antonio Abreu whom Claudio Abbado calls "a saint".
And now, when you see what musicians, such as the true ambassador Gustavo Dudamel,the Simón Bolívar Orchestra, to mention just a few, have emerged from the project,you'll marvel at why it took more than thirty years for us in North America to catch on.

El Sistema has expanded since the first film exposure, and to me, part of the miracle is
how children play as if they were adults - no passage of time seems present. Their dedication - theirs and that of the teachers and staff who work with Abreu - is almost surreal. Where did all these old souls in children's bodies come from? Is this what happens when they're given a chance to experience classical music? When you listen to their wisdom, so beautifully reflected in the many levels of the project, you'll probably be speechless. And hopeful.

There's a great deal more to say about this remarkable documentary which I hope anyone with the least interest in changing the world, orders sight unseen. Paul Smaczny of EuroArts, who has produced the world's finest concert films on DVD, together with the brilliantly sensitive Maria Stodmeier, have done us all a great favour.
I thank them a thousand times over...and when you see some of the little touches - such as a hawk slowly hovering over dense and sprawling Caracas, free and soaring on the wind -
you'll understand the spiritual message of the film far beyond words.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Spiritual Light for the future of children without hope, October 5, 2009

By 

S. Haines (St. Barts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: El Sistema: Music to Change Life (DVD)

I saw this film last night on Ovation television and I am buying the film now for my son and my two granddaughters to watch. It is awe-inspiring and a teaching instrument for adults that think they know about education.
I am amazad at the way classical orchestral training for untutored, uneducated, poor, hopeless children can lift these same children into the realms of spiritual betterment, professional quality instrument playing and the way to a better life. Some of the children are already traveling going to other countries to play in orchestras.
Superb.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Moving and Powerful Documentary, November 2, 2009

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: El Sistema: Music to Change Life (DVD)

I certainly can't comment from the 'inside' as customer reviewer Linda McDougall does -- read her review! -- but I wanted to add my unreserved enthusiasm for this DVD. Ever since conductor Gustavo Dudamel exploded onto the international classical music scene there has been mounting curiosity and interest about El Sistema and its founder José Antonio Abreu. This documentary, lovingly made by one of the best music documentarians, Paul Smaczny, and his partner Maria Stodtmeier, shows us from the ground up how El Sistema works. It takes us inside the homes, rehearsal rooms and the very lives of the children who are involved in learning to play music via the program and mostly in their own words shows us what a powerful force the program is. There are many clips of Abreu explaining his concepts about the importance of music in the lives of the children, not just for the explicit purpose of learning to play and instrument but how it teaches cooperation and discipline. The children themselves are marvelous ambassadors for the program because we can see how it alters their lives in positive ways.

I enthusiastically recommend the DVD to anyone who loves classical music, to anyone who despairs about the future of classical music, and to anyone who might some day have input themselves into the similar programs that are now popping up all over the world.

Running time: 100minutes, plus a 9min bonus about auditioning for the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra; Format NSC 16:9; Sound: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1; Documentary is in Spanish with subtitles in English, German, French and Spanish; Region Code: 0 (worldwide)

Scott Morrison