I will be honest and say that I did not go to Walden Books to pick up this gem until after I had seen the movie previews. Even then, I wasn't sure that it was a book and I had no idea that this whole thing came from a true life experience. But when I came across the book while perusing the music section, something made me buy it.
Steve Lopez is a journalist for the Los Angeles Times who, while driving through the city one day looking for a story, came across a homeless man playing a violin with only 2 strings. Who would know that this one chance encounter would lead to a long, trying but rewarding friendship? I'm sure that Mr. Lopez had no idea at that time that not only was this meeting going to produce multiple writings in his column, but also a book and and movie deal.
We find out from reading the book that this African American homeless man is Nathaniel Anthony Ares and although he has a schizophrenic mind, he is also a brilliant musician. I would speculate that if his condition had not made him quite school at Julliard - yes I said Julliard - he would be one of the current greats in performing classical music today. But his mind got the worst of him and he ended up on the streets of L.A. idolizing a statue of Beethoven and coddling the memories of old melodies floating through his head.
Because of Steve Lopez, the public caught ear of Nathaniel's story and help began flowing in. Nathaniel got new violins and a cello to play, donated from various sources who read the column.
He also had a listening ear and a growing companionship that I would dare to say helped him more than anything. Through a ton of struggle and a lot of time, Steve eventually got Nathaniel to sleep in an apartment at LAMP during some nights. As a reader, you feel so much relief when you find out that Nathaniel is finally safe at night. This doesn't mean that he will never spend some nights sleeping on the street again though.
I am grateful for the movie mostly because it got me reading the book. Also, Jamie Fox and Robert Downy Jr. did an excellent job in their rolls. Past this, however, my personal thoughts on the movie are not that high.
With any book-to-movie deal, there are going to be things that are left out or changed. I get that. But the small details that made the book so enduring seemed to be left out of the movie. I didn't really get a sense of time with the movie, and how long Steve struggled day-to-day with Nathaniel. And here's a biggie: in the book (and in real life!) Steve is married with two grown sons and a young daughter. In the movie, he is divorced, and his ex wife is his boss at the Times. WTF? Was this really necessary?
Also, Nathaniel played double bass at Julliard, not cello. Yes, he learned to play the cello and yes, he can also play the violin, but his instrument at college was the double bass. I guess they did this so that people watching the movie wouldn't get confused with too many instruments?
One more thing - Nathaniel's cello teacher from the philharmonic was not an overzealous Christian who forced him to do a concert in front of Disney Hall. I don't even know what they were thinking there.
Over all, I enjoyed the movie, but that was because the two main actors did such a great performance. The whole movie, my husband and I kept whispering to each other, "That's not the same!" or "It didn't happen like that" or "Hey, they left out...". I'm sure we were annoying my sister-in-law and her boyfriend who were there with us, both of which have not read the book.
There is so much more I could say about the plot of this story and how it has affected my life, but this entry is already too long. I highly suggest reading the book. I can't believe that anyone could read it and not walk away with something.
Thank you, Steve Lopez, for not only sharing your experiences with us, but also for writing it in such an eloquent way that makes your book impossible to put down.
Good luck, Nathaniel.
