Eugen Onegin


            In this version of the 1791 opera, the plot has been updated to the early twentieth century, between 1914 and 1918. But although there are updates, the film's plotline is essentially the same as that of the original opera.Most of the film is sung, although there is about ten or fifteen minutes of spoken dialogue. "The Magic Flute" is what is known as a singspiel, the eighteenth-century equivalent of an operetta.As the overture plays, we see a sunlit field, soldiers in trenches preparing for war, and a chamber orchestra on the battlefield playing the music. Suddenly a battle breaks out, although the music continues playing. It is the early twentieth century and a war that looks much like World War I is raging.Tamino, a handsome young soldier who has been fighting in the trenches, is thrown by an explosion into water. He is unharmed, but is immediately threatened by rapidly approaching poison gas. Falling unconscious, he is rescued by three nurses who take him to safety. Each of them instantly develops lustful desires for him and the three argue over which one is going to tend him. Papageno, who is in charge of using canaries and pigeons to detect the gas, appears. Tamino revives and asks him who saved him. When Papageno takes the credit, the three ladies reappear, place a gas mask on his head, and lock it as punishment for telling a lie. They tell Tamino that they are the ones who saved him and show him a photo of Pamina, the daughter of the Queen of the Night, who wishes Tamino to rescue Pamina from Sarastro, her supposed kidnapper. Suddenly the Queen of the Night enters the field atop a tank, and begs Tamino to hear her pleas. Her requests are so heartfelt that Tamino, who has fallen instantly in love with Pamina from looking at her photo, a photo that literally moves, agrees to rescue her. Papageno is freed by the Ladies from the gas mask and is ordered to go along.A temporary Christmas truce is declared just for a few hours. Everyone shakes hands with everyone else, even their enemies. The Three Ladies give Tamino a magic flute and Papageno a magic glockenspiel, both of which will protect them during their mission. They are told that they will be met by three boys who will also aid them.At Sarastro's dwelling, Pamina is being manhandled by the lecherous Monostatos, who chases her around trying to rape her. Suddenly Papageno appears - his appearance drives Monostatos away temporarily. He has arrived ahead of Tamino and tells Pamina about him. Pamina is delighted. Papageno mentions that he is unlucky in love and the two sing a sweet duet on the joys of finding a wife or a husband. They climb out through the roof intending to escape; Tamino is supposed to eventually meet up with them. Suddenly, they see Monostatos and his men coming after them. Papageno plays his magic glockenspiel and he and Pamina watch laughing as Monostatos and his men are hypnotized by the music into doing a silly dance.Papageno blows on his pipes hoping that Tamino will hear it and answer. He does, but finds that he is barred from entering Sarastro's dwelling until he wanders into what seems like a field hospital. He begins to talk (sing, actually) to the man in charge, not knowing that this is Sarastro, who is not the evil monster that the Queen of the Night made him out to be, but a kindly, wise doctor-like figure. He has not kidnapped Pamina, but keeps her at his dwelling for her own benefit, away from the evil influence of the Queen of the Night. A large crowd enters hailing Sarastro, and it is then that Tamino realizes the truth. Suddenly there is a crash, and Papageno and Pamina fall into the room from the ledge on which they were perching. She begs forgiveness of Sarastro for doubting him and accuses Monostatos of trying to rape her. Monostatos tries to bluff his way out of it, but Sarastro sees through him and demotes him to private. Tamino and Papageno then enter the main part of the building to undergo the three trials they must survive in order to prove themselves worthy of joining Sarastro and his followers.Tamino and Papageno are blindfolded and ushered into a bunker. Tamino is questioned by two officers who asks him if he knows the reward for undergoing the trials is world peace. When he answers "I do this for love", the two officers confront Sarastro and tell him that he is using Tamino and unfairly asking him to risk his life. One officer asks Sarastro, "Do you know what you're doing?" Sarastro replies, "I hope so. Tamino must succeed and this slaughter must end".The first trial is the trial of silence. Papageno is told that if he passes the trials, he will win a beautiful showgirl that he first saw five years before, but did not have the courage to speak to - her name is Papagena. (Papageno carries around a magazine with photos of beautiful showgirls and Papagena is one of them.) If Tamino passes the trials, he will win Pamina, the powers of good will triumph, and the war will end. As Tamino and Papageno sit, Papageno just cannot resist talking. An old lady appears, offering Papageno a drink of water, and the two engage in lively conversation even though it's forbidden. Papageno mischievously asks the old lady if she has a boyfriend. She replies that she does and that his name is Papageno. Then she leaves without telling him her name.Pamina, meanwhile, is resting inside an old windmill, when, for the first time in a very long while, she sees her mother, the Queen of the Night. The two embrace, and the queen is very loving toward Pamina - until she hears that Tamino has joined Sarastro. In a surrealistic sequence, she furiously lashes Pamina to the sail of the windmill, threatening her with death and renouncing her as daughter unless she kills Sarastro. She then frees Pamina and flies off into the night like a witch on a broomstick. Monostatos appears and again tries to rape Pamina, but this time Sarastro stops him and drives him away. Pamina, shaken from the ordeal, seeks comfort from Sarastro's advice. This is the last time she will ever see her mother.The Three Boys mentioned by the Three Ladies appear to Tamino and Papageno and return to them the Magic Flute and the Glockenspiel, which had been taken from them in the confusion earlier, and which they will now need desperately. (The boys are not on anyone's side, but they now follow orders from Sarastro rather than the Queen). Pamina sees Tamino, but is stunned when he refuses to speak to her (she does not know about the vow of silence).Meanwhile Papageno has been jailed for talking during the trial of silence. He sings of his longing for a woman, and just as he flings himself on his cot, the old woman magically appears right underneath him. "Marry me!" she says, "or they'll keep you here forever!" Papageno stops to think it over, but decides that getting out of jail is worth the price. The old lady is overjoyed and hugs Papageno, then blows him a kiss and turns to leave. At first she walks slowly, as if worn down with age, but suddenly she begins moving faster. She turns around, flinging off her cloak as if performing a magic trick, and we see she is no longer an old lady - she is really Papagena, the beautiful young showgirl that Papageno has always longed for. Laughing mischievously, she runs out of the cell and teasingly locks the door, preventing Papageno from leaving.Deeply depressed, and believing Tamino no longer loves her because of his refusal to talk, Pamina prepares to take her own life, but is stopped by the Three Boys, who explain the situation to her. She goes to meet Tamino, but is horrified when she sees him in the trenches apparently about to undertake a dangerous mission. It is the second trial - the trial of fire. As Tamino and Pamina pass through a battlefield with bombs and shells exploding right and left, Tamino holds the Magic Flute high in the air and it plays by itself. The Flute's power enables them to pass through the field unharmed. The Queen of the Night, who was preparing an attack, is stunned by the power of the Flute and cannot bring herself to order her troops to charge when she sees that Pamina is on the battlefield.Next comes the last trial - the trial of water. The jealous Monostatos pulls back a lever and unleashes a flood of water that nearly drowns Tamino and Pamina. But Tamino always holds the Flute high above him, and again its power saves their lives.Meanwhile, the desperate Papageno has broken out of jail. He runs through the surrounding areas of the field hospital and finds himself in a barn. He blows on his pipes, hoping that this will bring Papagena to him, but nothing happens. Thinking he has lost her forever, he too makes plans to kill himself, and he too is stopped by the Three Boys, who are amused at his antics, knowing that he has forgotten that his glockenspiel is magic. They remind him, and he plays on it, while the boys dance to the tune. Next we see a woman's skirt swirling as if moving in time to music. Papageno looks, and sees Papagena approaching. The two happily greet each other and sing about their future together.As all this is going on, the Queen of the Night, Monostatos, and the Three Ladies are climbing the walls of Sarastro's castle-like dwelling for a new assault. The Queen has promised Monostatos Pamina's hand in marriage if they are successful. But as she reaches the window and looks through it, she sees that Pamina and Tamino have just been married. With a look of sadness, defeat, and perhaps compassion for her daughter, she gazes on when Sarastro notices her. Although he has firmly decided that Pamina cannot return to her mother, there is a look on his face that signals that he too once had a soft spot for the Queen (it is vaguely implied though never stated in this moment that he and the Queen once had a love relationship, and that Pamina is their daughter). Suddenly the Queen loses her balance, Sarastro reaches his hand out to save her life, but shaking her head in sad resignation, she lets go of him and plunges to her death far below. Monostatos and the Three Ladies, not seeing any other way out, also let themselves fall to their deaths. Sarastro looks on regretfully. This is the only moment in the film in which he shows gentle feelings for the Queen. All of this has gone completely unnoticed by Tamino, Pamina, and the wedding guests.It is now sometime later. The sun is shining, and all signs of war are disappearing. The barren battlefields, tanks and trenches are covered over with bright green grass which magically grows by itself. World peace has arrived, and everyone joins in celebration. Among those celebrating with Sarastro are Tamino, Pamina, their baby boy, Papageno, Papagena, and the two officers who arranged for the three trials of Tamino and Papageno.
    

Joseph Kaiser

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