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Not Without My Daughter - Awkward Musical Decisions


Brundlefly

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I've recently purchased La-La Land's release of the complete score by Jerry Goldsmith to the 1991 feature film "Not Without My Daughter". Though I couldn't really recommend what I've listened to so far, when Josh500 asked about it, his thread made me curious about that score again. So I bought it and since the film itself was said to be incredibly awful, I was also interested and bought it on DVD. The film is about a Muslim who marries an American women. She gets a child and after several years of marriage he wants to spend his hollydays with his family in his home country. Once they are in Iran he turns by 180 degrees and starts hitting and terribly oppressing his wife and tells her that they'll never leave Iran again. From now on the woman has to go through hell to escape with her daughter and return to America, which she is finally successful with.

 

This story is based on true event... well... nevertheless the film is just nastily plundering through a huge amount of clichés and stereotypes of the Iranian culture. I found out the film was a major basis of the prejudices against the Iranian culture in the early nineties and created the first, if not the only, impression many Americans had of it. Of course many people recognized the film's hazardous trivialization, but it's still shocking how many people took and still take it seriously as a complex portrait and consider it to be a "great movie!". In the nineties and early two thousands it even served as educational film at school and tantalized students of that cultural background. But we're not here to discuss the religous or political aspects. I just wanted to point out that the film is ashamingly racist, which is important to understand my theory:

 

Like many other bad films, Goldsmith scored this one. A composer who is known for an extreme enhancement of the films he scored. In many one dimensional flicks, like "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" or "Rambo III", he counters their painting of a simple picture in black and white by providing a multilayered construct of themes and motifs. Sometimes he even gave superficially drawn characters the impression of deepth by means of effective emotional writing. In "Not Without My Daughter", however, Goldsmith does not care about that. Whereas the American part of the score mostly consists of melodic strings, for the other part he does something which is thematically very unusual for him. One would have expected that the Iranian culture is accompanied by typical instruments of the Middle East and ethnical compositional techniques in the music, but what we finally get is highly grotesque, menacing and synthetic. The "evil" husband and other Muslims are accompanied by eerie, occasionally dark sounds that are so disturbing, because they ring so weird. No single time the music tries to be neutrally distanced, it merely supports the idea of GOOD and EVIL. Thus it was probably co-responsible for the unsettled and polarized reactions of the audience.

 

But one thing which bothers me is that all that does not fit the methods of the composer. Therefore I assume that he didn't like the film and was upset by its hostile message that could aggravate the social situation. He decided not to use a classic Middle East tone for the distorted impression of the Iranian culture and so he distorted his music accordingly by using scary, ugly sounding synthesizers. That sould empathize the ridiculousness of the film and overdraw the characters in a comical way. Goldsmith was confident with that concept of scoring a movie, since he did the same thing with several of Joe Dante's films, like "The 'Burbs" or "Gremlins 2". But this time he couldn't tell the director his intention, because it would have insulted Brian Gilbert whose film was intended to be a serious drama and no controversial comic strip. Due to the film's intensity and the protagonists' truly strong performances Goldsmith's plan was not successful and things went just worse.

 

That's my theory. And I'm totally serious about that, as Brian Gilbert was serious about his film. What do you think?

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It's interesting and commendable that you theorize about such aesthetic questions which are seldom discussed (even if they are often the most interesting part of the music). However, my vague recollection of that movie brings me to the conclusion that Goldsmith just took the position of the filmmakers to the extreme without any pretensions of subtext: by this time Goldsmith was prone too simplifications and the choice of anonymous synth work to (one-dimensionally) denote strange and evil certainly fits with the composer's other works around that time, only that this time it was not a action/sci-fi/horror picture.

 

My guess is that Goldsmith signed for the project on the basis of the book/script and when the movie came around, it was clear that being a serious Oscar contender was the least of its worries so JG shrugged and just throw them a bone. It sounds like it was written in a hurry and w/o any passion. 

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It was about a Western woman and her daughter struggling to free themselves from a tyrant of a husband/father in a culturally hostile foreign land. It was a compelling story. Perhaps more appropriate to Saudi Arabia than Iran, if that's the film's biggest blunder - I wonder if it would still provoke as much controversy today if that were the case?

 

I find it interesting that people today project some weird modern claim that this film is bad because it portrays aggressively devout Islamic culture as incompatible with progressive Western culture. It sure as hell wasn't the only politically incorrect (by today's word police standards) film that Goldsmith or even Williams scored.

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It was the first that did such things so front and center and masqueraded as 'respectable' book adaptation kind of picture and not a dumb Arnie or Sly flick no one would take seriously, anyway.

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@publicist You're right, scores that indicate my theory are 1. either scores that seem to give bad films any complexity and deepth or 2. comically overdrawn and intelligently cliché-exploiting parody scores which you cannot listen to without a smile. For the first category "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", "Legend", "Night Crossing", "Rambo III" and "Leviathan" come to mind and for the second category "Gremlins", "The 'Burbs", "Innerspace" and "Gremlins 2".

 

There is, however, a third and a fourth category that do not really support my theory: 3. Scores like "Inchon" and "Sleeping with the Enemy" that are not distanced towards the progagonists, the latter of them even scored in the same year as "Not Without My Daughter", with a similar "evil-comic-strip-villain-husband-suddenly-becomes-violent-and-tries-to-hurt-wife" kind of plot and similar gloomy synths. The 4. category are scores where even Goldsmith didn't give a crap, because he knew how crappy the film would be and as you said "throw them a bone". An example of this is "Link" which is clearly not one of his parody scores, it's more dispassionate circus music.

 

@Sally Spectra If a film has the intention to represent another culture in a serious way, a huge amount of responsibility is inherent. Such films can be either outstanding, but they can easily become very bad without the protection of irony. "Not Without My Daughter" had a big influence on the audience's opinion, although it is (and I cannot emphasize this enough) INCREDIBLY STEREOTYPICAL, so that the technical and cinematic points can be as perfect as possible - it remains an awful movie, as is "Sleeping with the Enemy" for the same reasons.

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Funny you mention Sleeping With The Enemy. I just watched Enough, a similar domestic violence + daughter flick. Although that one had more modern female empowerment fantasy when she kicked her meanie husband's arse at the end.

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7 minutes ago, Sally Spectra said:

Although that one had more modern female empowerment fantasy when she kicked her meanie husband's arse at the end.

 

How do you reconcile Michael Douglas' [attempted] drowning of Glenn Close?

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8 minutes ago, Quintus said:

 

How do you reconcile Michael Douglas' [attempted] drowning of Glenn Close?

 

That's different. It's a Play Misty for Me style stalker flick where the man kills his stalker in self defence. 

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2 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

@publicist You're right, scores that indicate my theory are 1. either scores that seem to give bad films any complexity and deepth or 2. comically overdrawn and intelligently cliché-exploiting parody scores which you cannot listen to without a smile. For the first category "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", "Legend", "Night Crossing", "Rambo III" and "Leviathan" come to mind and for the second category "Gremlins", "The 'Burbs", "Innerspace" and "Gremlins 2".

 

There is, however, a third and a fourth category that do not really support my theory: 3. Scores like "Inchon" and "Sleeping with the Enemy" that are not distanced towards the progagonists, the latter of them even scored in the same year as "Not Without My Daughter", with a similar "evil-comic-strip-villain-husband-suddenly-becomes-violent-and-tries-to-hurt-wife" kind of plot and similar gloomy synths. The 4. category are scores where even Goldsmith didn't give a crap, because he knew how crappy the film would be and as you said "throw them a bone". An example of this is "LINK" which is clearly not one of his parody scores, it's more dispassionate circus music.

 

@Sally Spectra If a film has the intention to represent another culture in a serious way, a huge amount of responsibility is inherent. Such films can be either outstanding, but they can easily become very bad without the protection of irony. "Not Without My Daughter" had a big influence on the audience's opinion, although it is (and I cannot emphasize this enough) INCREDIBLY STEREOTYPICAL, so that the technical and cinematic points can be as perfect as possible - it remains an awful movie, as is "Sleeping with the Enemy" for the same reasons.

 

I like LINK, and that's all I have to say, on the matter :)

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5 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

@publicist There is, however, a third and a fourth category that do not really support my theory: 3. Scores like "Inchon" and "Sleeping with the Enemy" that are not distanced towards the progagonists, the latter of them even scored in the same year as "Not Without My Daughter", with a similar "evil-comic-strip-villain-husband-suddenly-becomes-violent-and-tries-to-hurt-wife" kind of plot and similar gloomy synths. 

 

I just hear Goldsmith following the script: the 'villain'(s) is poorly characterized, Goldsmith follows suit (not trying to give them more depth, as he would have done in earlier years). It is in these years that Goldsmith became interchangeable with quickly produced tv music (not in 'Inchon', which was fully realized).

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On 4.8.2017 at 6:30 PM, Sally Spectra said:

Interesting that some midday movie from 1991 still stirs a lot of controversy today. Not to mention its inconsequential score.

But the score had consequences. I dare say that it subconciously heated up the controversy.

 

On 4.8.2017 at 5:06 PM, publicist said:

I just hear Goldsmith following the script: the 'villain'(s) is poorly characterized, Goldsmith follows suit (not trying to give them more depth, as he would have done in earlier years). It is in these years that Goldsmith became interchangeable with quickly produced tv music (not in 'Inchon', which was fully realized).

It's sad to know that he probably couldn't give a fuck on his scores of that period, because he was interchangable. Nevertheless my theory would improve a comparatively weak work.

 

On 4.8.2017 at 6:30 PM, Sally Spectra said:

Interesting that some midday movie from 1991 still stirs a lot of controversy today. Not to mention its inconsequential score.

"Not Without My Daughter" is a special case, because of its socially catastrophical impacts. Johnny was also involved into a hypocritical tolerance film that truly was just racist - "Rosewood". And I really mean racist. If racism was a fire, Rosewood would be petrol that you spill on the fire. But no one knows this shitty flick, so no one cares any more.

 

There are still some films of that kind in Hollywood that aren't even revealed as such, like for example "Blind Side".

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1 minute ago, Brundlefly said:

"Not Without My Daughter" is a special case, because of its socially catastrophical impacts. Johnny was also involved into a hypocritical tolerance film that truly was just racist - "Rosewood". And I really mean racist. If racism was a fire, Rosewood would be petrol that you spill on the fire. But no one knows this shitty flick, so no one cares any more.

 

Why was Rosewood racist?

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4 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

But the score had consequences. I dare say that it subconciously heated up the controversy.

 

You mean Jerry Goldsmith indirectly contributed to deeper Western prejudice to Middle Eastern "scary brown people"? I think events that took place a decade later achieved that on their own.

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8 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Why was Rosewood racist?

Loads of terrible stereotypes. One really dump movie.

 

3 minutes ago, Sally Spectra said:

You mean Jerry Goldsmith indirectly contributed to deeper Western prejudice to Middle Eastern "scary brown people"? I think events that took place a decade later achieved that on their own.

I just mean he enforcened the black white painting impression, that was quite scandalous received. A contribution is a contribution, no matter how little it is.

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Indeed! Not Without My Daughter is an almost forgotten film. Let's not turn a molehill into a mountain.

Just now, Brundlefly said:

Loads of terrible stereotypes. One really dump movie.

 

Can you be more specific? The movie is quite well respected, if fairly obscure. What do you mean with stereotypes? And why are they racist?

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This movie is so overdrawn and inflated. It's more a superman story and not a drama. The way the white people are described makes it inacceptable as serious drama or historical film. An example is, when Mann is send to the gallows and a whole bunch of white men does not take notice of him, when he frees himself. The death toll is incredibly exaggerated. Such a gory event has never been documented. Django Unchained is obviously not realistic and the events in there cannot be taken seriously, although the whole work has a quite clear message. Rosewood pretends to be super realistic and wants to represent what happened. It's based on a story the director invented, who worked the whole thing out quite emotional - too emotional. It's polarizing - against white people. Of course it is terrible what they did, but it does not allow a filmmaker to show these past events in such an agressive manner. Such a movie still has to be neutral and distanced, which does not mean that it cannot be emotional (see: Silence or Schindler's List). Somebody who is a bid racist would not be very insightful, having watched the film. It's more probable to harm the communication between races (of course biologically there aren't even various human races).

 

The reason why so many people praised the movie is, because no one expects racism the other way round and only few of a few people who recognize that, dare saying it. Another reason is: It's technically excellently made, features strong acting and is well photographed. It may be entertaining but it is as harmful as Not Withou My Daughter.

 

Hopefully, I could answer your question without transgressing any forum rules.

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6 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

Such a movie still has to be neutral and distanced,

 

Nolan fan?

 

I don't really agree a director HAS to be neutral, fair or even unbiased when making a film based on historical events.

It's a movie, it's not the news. The director has certain obligations regarding the verisimilitude. But certainly shouldn't be required to be factual.

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Also, the cruelty and refusal of basic human rights blacks were subjected to is historically documented, whereas the cliché of the muslim madman by 1991 was largely the invention of western media in dire need of a new bogeyman after the Evil Empire fell. Singleton was certainly within the realm of reality - that is, if you don't see Rosewood as isolated incident but as a culmination of similar events throughout the centuries.

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5 hours ago, Stefancos said:

Nolan fan?

Scorsese fan!

 

5 hours ago, Stefancos said:

I don't really agree a director HAS to be neutral, fair or even unbiased when making a film based on historical events.

It's still not the news, yeah. In a film you can condemn certain behaviour, but the degree to which Not Without My Daughter and Rosewood do that has nothing to do any more with the announcement of a message. The events shown in Rosewood, it's not what happened and not because the story itself is fictional. Amistad is a succsessful example, it's not entirely sterile, but it's neither stereotype or kinda distorting the events.

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The film is the very essence of being politically incorrect, in that it had the temerity to accurately tell the truth about what was going on in Iran at the time.

 

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But the soundtrack is wonderful! (the Rosewood soundtrack, not the other one)

 

@Brundlefly  I always considered it weird that Mr. Goldsmith did not try to save the movie, cause that's what he always did. Maybe..maybe not..we'll never know. But it upgrades the soundtrack considering it to be meant satirical.

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