The Commitments

It has become clear in looking back at Alan Parker's films that he has often drawn to music. The Commitments, from 1991, is all about how music can fulfill one's soul. The story of a band formed in Dublin, it isn't particularly interesting visually, or original as far as plot, but if you like '60s soul music and young performers who still are rough around the edges, it's a lot of fun.

A young fellow (Robert Arkins) who has been on the dole for two years, is trying to put together a band, but not just any band--he wants it to play "Dublin soul." As he tells his first recruits, "The Irish are the blacks of Europe, Dubliners are the black od Ireland, and Northsiders are the blacks of Dublin." So this is a cover band of Motown and other soul greats, defying any other trendy sounds that are heard around the city.

The film falls into three recognizable acts: the forming of the band, their gelling into a something of a success, and their dissolution. The band is large, and each member gets something of an arc. There's the sax player who starts getting into jazz, the piano player who plays for the church (a great moment is when he is at confession and admits that instead of hymns he sings "When A Man Loves A Woman" by Marvin Gaye. "Percy Sledge," the priest corrects him. "I have the album." The lead singer has a voice like Joe Cocker but puts everyone off with his obnoxious behavior (he's played by Andrew Strong, who was amazingly only sixteen when he played the part).

One of the key members is a much older trumpet player, who has jammed with many soul greats (so he says) and becomes something of a guru for the rest (he calls his trumpet Gina Lollabrigida). He also starts trouble by romancing all three of the girl singers. Thus we get the third act, the inevitable clash of egos and jealousies that break everything apart.

The Commitments is very charming, mostly because of the music (the band was pulled together from actual musicians in Dublin) and the way Parker uses his amateur actors. They are without polish, but also without guile, and bring the film a great sense of authenticity.