The Magic Flute

Kenneth Branagh's adaptation, which moves Mozart's opera to the First World War. The story of The Magic Flute stays where it is: Tamino is sent to rescue a princess, Papageno is given to him, the conflict between the Queen of the Night and Sarastro continues. What changes is the setting. It takes place in an unnamed European country, in the trenches. Tamino is a wounded soldier; the dragon becomes a cloud of poison gas; Papageno is a private who carries caged birds to detect it. This is the cinematic version of an approach common in staged opera: leave the music alone and change the context. Mozart's score is preserved as written. It is sung in English. Stephen Fry translated the German libretto. The roles are taken by professional opera singers; Joseph Kaiser sings Tamino and Amy Carson sings Pamina. Worth trying for anyone who likes opera on film and the recontextualising of classical works. For a viewer with no proximity to opera, it runs past two hours and is sung throughout; spoken scenes are almost nonexistent.