Mahler (1974) - 3 stars out of 10

Mahler (1974) - 3 stars out of 10

Ken Russell's "Mahler" is a trip.  The visual imagery of a woman emerging from a cocoon and and extensive battle where the conversion of a Jew to Christianity forces him to destroy a Star of David and eat the head of a pig are amongst the things to look forward to; and yet, Russell manages to make some big statements about Gustav Mahler's life through this bizarre interpretation of his life.  My favorite part of the film comes about 5 minutes in, when Gustav watches a scene from "Death in Venice" unfold before his eyes with the beautiful "Adagietto" playing.  This image of a composer watching the future legacy of his music is fantastic, particularly as his music was not well received in his time and he always believed that people would "get it" 50 years after his death.  And they did.  The film's downfall is that you have to be an expert on Mahler's life to understand most of what Russell is trying to express, giving it a very limited audience appeal.  I am fairly well educated in the life and character of Mahler and yet, many of these things went over my head the first time.  The acting is good and the soundtrack is incredible as we get to enjoy Mahler's music for two hours, but unless you have done significant research about the life of Mahler ahead of time, this will just come off as and extensive display of bizarre imagery.