Pavarotti (12A)***
Dir: Ron Howard
With: Nicoletta Mantovani, Placido Domingo, Harvey Goldsmith, Bono
Runtime: 114 minutes
RON Howard’s documentary about the late, great tenor begins with Pavarotti making his way up the Amazon to sing on the stage where Caruso had appeared a century before. The trip was typical in a life, as Howard shows, that hardly wanted for grandiose acts.
Howard traces the tenor’s story from near starvation in wartime Italy through to touring with his father, also a tenor (he was better, according to Luciano), his rise to prominence through criss-crossing America, and on to the Italia 90, Nessun Dorma, Three Tenors phase of his life when he was the most famous performer in the world. It is done respectfully and lovingly, with the occasional criticism that he could be demanding. Most revealing of all in getting a sense of the man are the interviews with his first and second wives and his daughters. The finale is given over to a performance of Nessun Dorma in which there are tears aplenty, including Luciano’s.
ALISON ROWAT
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here