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Dreamkeeper: (Stephen Warbeck) Debuting on ABC in
late December, 2003, "Dreamkeeper" is a Hallmark Entertainment film with
all the usual ingredients of the predictably redemptive, family-friendly
story. It is a tale of generational conflict and understanding,
involving a trek made by a Native American elder and his grandson from
South Dakota to New Mexico for the important All Nations ceremony. The
rebellious grandson, only making the journey at first because he is
evading his local gang (to which he owes money), listens to the elder's
fantastic stories of adventure, humor, and romance from the history of
their tribe as they travel. The format of the story is similar in ways
to
Secondhand Lions (released earlier in the same year), which
also shifted between locations and times to tell of the days of high
adventure from one generation to another. The film was brought to life
on screen by director Robert Halmi Sr., whose "Merlin" series on NBC was
a spectacular success five years prior, and "Dreamkeeper" was conceived
with the same quality of production values in mind. Composer Stephen
Warbeck, best known for his Academy Award recognized work for
Shakespeare in Love (also five years prior), was no stranger to
the feel-good genre of storytelling. While his mainstream output had
been minimal for most collectors, with several underachieving
international arthouse ventures of the early 2000's gone astray due to
the films' failure to meet expectations, Warbeck maintained a high
orchestral standard of composition that many film music collectors
appreciated. That appreciation was likely extended with "Dreamkeeper," a
lofty, diverse, and well-constructed score that blends the best of his
sensitive orchestral writing with the instrumental and vocal sounds of
Native American culture. Often associated with British productions, the
choice of Warbeck to evoke the history of Native American heritage
through authentic music was a surprising one. But the composer managed
to pull off a very impressive score for "Dreamkeeper" that was
immediately mentioned as an integral factor in the film's projected
success. It had difficulty competing with James Horner's concurrent
music for Ron Howard's
The Missing, an exceptional score of
similar construct for a feature film, but Warbeck admirably serves his
purpose for the more obscure production.
With the story divided between the contemporary
settings and those contained within the tales, Warbeck balances the
score between the two eras well by keeping the modern cues very light in
instrumentation. In "The Journey" and "Riding to the Rainbow," as well
as during the final scenes of the family before and during the
grandfather's passing, Warbeck presents an acoustic guitar over familiar
Country-style rhythms. The sound of the small band ensemble is effective
in offering a taste of the youngest generation's sensibilities without
interfering with the more authentic historical music for the stories of
adventure. The youngest boy's journey culminates with a more
sophisticated performance of this Country theme (with a slight touch of
big Western strings) at the very end of the mini-series. Contemporary
rhythms aside, though, the multitude of Warbeck's unhindered orchestral
action music is an outstanding achievement for the television genre.
Early on the album for the series, the composer presents authentic
percussion and chanting recorded in America and featuring all of the
historical accuracy that the project could ever dream of (a technique
mastered similarly by Horner). At the same time, listeners attached to
their favored orchestral styles will be appeased by Warbeck's ability to
tastefully integrate the full orchestra into every level of the chanting
and solo woodwind performances of ethnicity. The dancing chants
occasionally build into an enormous orchestral crescendo, as in the
opening cue, or are sustained in unison during lengthy cues thereafter.
Warbeck uses the dramatic effect of string ostinatos in moments of chase
and activity ("High Horse Captures the Ponies") that listeners will
recognize from
Shakespeare in Love, but other than these few
stylistic resemblances, "Dreamkeeper" is a powerful effort that stands
on its own. Highlights of the score include momentous, timpani-pounding
action in "Killing the Buffalo" and "The Serpent," with the latter
containing a creative bird cry at the outset. Two cues involving the
"Dun Pony" in the middle of the work are melodic powerhouses, the latter
containing a heroic performance for the trumpet that shines with
dignity. The focused choral chants in "The Elk," as well as the women's
choir in "Quillwork Girl's Journey," are vocal highlights. Overall, only
occasionally suspect sound muffling in larger orchestral sections can
pull this score down from a five-star rating, and collectors weary of
television scores should not balk at this most impressive splash of
ethnic diversity.
****
| Bias Check: | For Stephen Warbeck reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.5 (in 6 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.51
(in 8,283 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
