4.0 out of 5 stars
Dark and Surreal, July 10, 2002
This review is from: The Handmaid's Tale: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Audio CD)
If you've seen the movie (or better yet, if you've read the book), then you know The Handmaid's Tale is a dark vision of the future where things whole and pure on the outside aren't quite so on the inside. The music by Sakamoto emphasizes these themes; sometimes dark, sometimes angry, and sometimes altogether the opposite. The few religious hymns interspersed on the CD--not composed by Sakamoto--are the same ones you hear in the film, and they make for some abrubt mood changes. Which is perhaps just what they're intended to do in the future Republic of Gilead.
The strangest thing about the CD is that it's actually only two tracks. The first track consists of "Overture/Snow" through "Shall We Gather by the River." The remaining themes make up Track 2. The themes don't fade into each other, so I'm not sure why they didn't separate each theme into its own track. But this oddity doesn't detract from the CD; it's just an interesting tidbit. The total listening time is about 42 minutes.
I haven't listened to Sakamoto's other CDs, so unfortunately I can't comment whether this CD is comparable to his other works. The music on this CD (aside from the non-Sakamoto hymns) is a nice application of some simple instrumental sounds combined to form complex and dark sci-fi-themes. "Prison Camp" is especially powerful, rhythmic, and industrial. Other pieces have nice uses of the harp, piano, and violin.
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