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The 1988 film Testimony is based on the Memoirs of Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich (edited by Solomon Volkov). ... Throughout Testimony, Shostakovich’s works are played according to when in his life he wrote them, and when they are relevant to the current context. ... Nevertheless, Testimony was an intriguing film to watch, especially because of our introduction to Shostakovich through Howard Goodall’s documentary. ...
We are then taken back in time (Testimony is full of flashbacks) to when Shostakovich was a student at the St Petersburg Conservatoire of Music. ... Shostakovich recalls how strict and uniform his school days were, and so Testimony’s director, Tony Palmer, uses satirical elements (of the alphabet blocks) to symbolise this. ...
Another scene that sticks vividly in my mind is that when Shostakovich reads a review written by Stalin’s party about his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. ...
In the movie, Shostakovich is standing on a railway platform reading the review entitled “Chaos instead of music”. ... ” Actor, Ben Kingsley portrays Shostakovich’s amazement at the article by reading it aloud – as if Shostakovich was trying to prove to himself that this review really exists. ... It is this attention to detail, and creative freedom of a film, that makes Testimony such an engaging movie.
Approximate Word count = 1005
Approximate Pages = 4
(250 words per page double spaced)
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