User Reviews

I don't usually get emotional while watching films but as I learned about the human spirit and the impact that Beethoven's symphony has had around the world I couldn't help but tear up as the goosebumps spread across my skin.

This story of Beethoven's symphony's role in the world couldn't be more timely. As we watch sparks of hope flashing throughout the globe from the Occupy Wall Street Movement to the Egyptian revolution this documentary reminds us of what humanity can achieve with solidarity and tenacity.

Films like this one only reaffirm my love for storytelling and the art of filmmaking. Bravo!

Schiller's poem is prophetic. A spark from the Enlightenment, the poem captivated Beethoven in his 20s. When he wrote his Ninth symphony 30 years later, he used Schiller's spark to ignite a flame, which he presented to the world. That flame forges a Humanity - a brotherhood - among those touched by it. The poem and the music thus have the power to create a joy in brotherhood: the very Joy they describe. They become self-sustaining.

And so the words "Alle Menschen werden Brueder", ("All men (mankind) become brothers") become prophetic. Their prophesy is fulfilled almost by fiat, simply by their declaration. With each performance, the spark of Humanity is rekindled; in the performers and the audience who are alert to it.

Candaele's film, the stories it tells, and the people it introduces, can awaken that Humanity in its audience. "Following the Ninth", helps spread Schiller's spark, from Weimar and Vienna -- through London, Santiago, Beijing, Berlin, and Tokyo -- to each viewer in each audience. In a real sense, the film helps fulfill the prophesy of Schiller's poem. No small accomplishment.

Epilogue: My enthusiasm borders on zealotry. I know that. Even so, the Joy expressed in the symphony and the film is so fundamental that I feel it is independent of religious or metaphysical entanglements. It is too fundamental to being Human.