Following a journey of highlighting the joy that can be found in the darkest moments, the film “My Father’s Violin” takes you on an emotional ride. Complemented by an unforgettable soundtrack, the gray world of an orphaned child never seemed so bright.

Originally filmed in Turkish, the film is dubbed into English. Although lack of synchronization between the words being spoken and the movement of the actors mouths can be distracting, the film quickly immerses you in its emotionally charged story. By the end, you’ll find that you don’t even notice the film’s language differences.

Directed by Andaç Haznedaro?lu and produced by Necati Akpinar and Zumrut Arol Bekce in 2022, “My Father’s Violin” stars Engin Altan Düzyatan, Belçim Bilgin and Gülizar Nisa Uray.

The film follows a young girl’s journey to reconnect with her estranged uncle after her late father’s death. As her last hope to stay out of the orphanage, the only thing she and her uncle have in common is their love of the violin.

As stated in the film’s title, it is expected that at least some violin music will be incorporated into the soundtrack. A lack of high-quality music could have been a huge failure for the film and would have left it feeling unfinished and lackluster. Too often, movie soundtracks are simply average and easily forgettable. They seem to fade into the background — unnoticed and unremarkable — but this film’s music is everything but. In fact, one of the film’s greatest strengths is its music. A violin and the music it makes are the focal points of the story.

While the producers of “My Father’s Violin” could have likely gotten away with placing violin music in only a few areas, they opted to go above and beyond to tastefully inject both soaring and dramatic violin into a large amount of the soundtrack. Throughout the film’s playtime, the violin pieces each seem like their own songs, but at the end, all of them are played together to form a glorious composition, perfectly tying the pieces together. Combined, it is one of the most remarkable and memorable soundtracks of any recent movie.

Another excelling aspect of the film was the contrasting “good” and “bad” events. Oftentimes, it seems as though movies are centered on either good or bad, but in this case, it’s both. In one specific circumstance, the story flows from an emotionally-charged argument to a joyous bonding experience.

Sad or negative sequences are quickly contrasted with happy and uplifting ones. This is done using the resilience of a young girl whose background is woven, so that resilience is ingrained into her character. The film’s mood is constantly changing, bouncing up and down in a rollercoaster of emotions without seeming forced or unrealistic.

Movies of its kind tend to be slow, but “My Fathers Violin” doesn’t fit that mold. Although it starts with a slower pace, it quickly picks up, and before the 30-minute mark, it speeds up to be well-paced and interesting. Although movies about music usually struggle to entertain the youth, “My Fathers Violin” engages all audiences. It makes use of a thrilling plot to make its subject not only interesting, but exciting and dramatic. It morphes a genre of film thought to be slow and lacking action into a dramatic and fun story that can be interesting to viewers of all ages. Overall, “My Fathers Violin” is an outstanding musical film that excels in every category of its production.