”Yesterday I saw a film which I had to give the highest rating. You have to see it.” – this was the urgent telephone call I received from a close friend. The next day it was time for me to take on the challenge of seeing the 2,5 hours documentary film Ennio (2021) about the life and work of the iconic film composer Ennio Morricone. Ennio is made by Giuseppe Tornatore, known for films like Cinema Paradiso (1988), A Mere Formality (1994) and The Legend of 1900 (1998) which for all of them Morricone is the music composer. And it became for me a veritable experience of a moving encounter with this beloved composer.

There are a number of reasons that should encourage you to see this film. Few probably know what a tremendous impact Morricone has had on film music. He has written the score for over 500 films. One can really speak about film music before and after Morricone. Before Morricone was the time of orchestral music as the decor for the story. Morricone heard in his head a melody that he considered to strengthen the story and on that basis he wrote the score. It has given us a broad range of film intros and melodies that have stayed with us, even if we don’t know that it carries the name Morricone.

Ennio Morricone was born in 1928 and died in Rome in 2020 at the age of 91 years. In the film, you learn so much about him, about his family life in the hard days of Second World war years, about the influence of his father who was a professional trumpet player, about his own past as a trumpet player, about his music studies and his stumbling over film music as a means to earn some money for the family. Colorful anecdotes recount his lifelong struggle with feelings that he let his classical training down, and the impact of his admired teacher Petrassi, who did not think highly of film music. I was moved to see the combination of modesty, thoughtfulness, love for music and for his wife Maria, whom he married in 1956 and who was his companion all throughout his life. I marveled at his stubborn commitment and uncompromising attitude towards what he was hearing in his mind and heart as the music that had to be for each particular story.

Another reason to see the film is the chance to be reminded of big films of the past: Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and his Once Upon a Time in America, Roland Joffe’s The Mission, Gilles Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers, Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso, Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1900, Brian de Palma’s The Untouchables, etc. In many cases without us being aware of it, it is Morricone’s music that made these films unforgettable.  

Let me finish with a few quotes from the end of the film, to help convince you that Ennio is worth spending 2,5 hours on: ”Ennio’s music is otherworldly. It travels to other galaxies.” and ”Even if you don’t believe in God, Ennio’s music makes you believe there is something out there. His music is eternal”. These are the words of directors who worked with him and of colleague musicians who recorded his music. It is our privilege to enjoy Maestro Morricone’s truly ethereal sounds.

Rinus , July 2023

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