Soldiers of Music

In 1990, the successful cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich returned to his native country, the Soviet Union, after having lived in exile for sixteen years. The film is a portrait of an artist who returns to a country that has changed greatly since his departure and is again on the verge of going through a revolution. The musician and his wife, opera singer Galina Vishnevskaya, are moved and happy to be on their native soil again and to be able to visit places from their past. The two are welcomed as stars; during a concert, but also in the streets, the Russian people clearly demonstrate that they have not forgotten them. The filmmakers follow the couple in these moments of triumph, but the film also shows them in moments when less pleasant memories are stirred up. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)