Mozart in the Jungle (2014–2018): Season 3, Episode 7 - Not Yet Titled - full transcript

We are delighted
for you to be our
first audience

since we got together again.

You know, we...
we haven't been able to
play together

for a long, long time,
and this is the time,

so, please, you know,
forgive our errors.

We have a little bit
of rough edges.

Bradford Sharp.
This is my first movie.

My very first one.
We're shooting on film.
Kinda nervous.

Uh, it's untitled.

And just remember,
everybody, just be natural,

be realistic, be in the moment.



Are you excited to play
after time away?

Uh, yeah.
I'm really excited.

I am also very curious about
where we're playing,

because knowing Rodrigo,
it's probably
pretty interesting.

What do you love about the oboe?

What do I love about the oboe?

I don't really know
what I love about
the oboe anymore,

except that I know
that I do love it.

You know that the oboe
actually, like, symbolizes

the sound of love and...

Not like romantic love,
but I think love in general.

- Okay, Warren Boyd.
- Yeah?

Here. This one's for you.
All the way to the back.

- Huh.
- And, uh, Union Bob.



Have you played this?
I did it in Sweden and
it's, uh...

- I don't know. Yeah.
- It's pretty, um...

- It's kind of crazy.
- It's crazy?

- Yeah.
- This is the first time
you've played together

in quite some time.
I'm curious to know
what you...

What you feel like right now?

Well, I can't wait.
I mean... Huh.

I... I've been dying
for the last four months,
or however long it's been.

I'm happy that I get to, um...

To sub, and...
right now it feels good.

How long will your film be?

You know, right now
I don't like to talk about

my work when it's happening,

uh, but I just want to
be with you guys.

It could be...
It's really up to you guys
how long it is.

What instrument are you
the most jealous of?

What instrument am I
the most jealous of?

Like what you'd like to have
the skill playing.

Um, Dee Dee.
I'm j... For him.
The percussion.

What does it take
to be a good percussionist?

You really have to love
what time can do.

You know, you can either
play it on the beat,

behind the beat,
in front of the beat.

And what's interesting is
all different conductors

want time placed differently.

What, we're here?

This is where we're going?

Yo. We're going to jail.

No, no.

All right, let's get off
the bus real quick.

I'm not even surprised.

What the hell?

So, guys, we're gonna
get onto that bus
that is over there,

the white one, and
we're in a bit of
a hurry, okay?

So none of your usual,
you know, thingies,

ten-minute break
and everything.

Okay,
you guys heard the maestro.

Very fast, please, guys.

Let's get down low here,
I want to get down low.

The Maestro,
totally unpredictable.

I had no idea where
we were gonna go.

And then when Bob
saw the sign to Rikers,

I thought, oh, right.

Why didn't I realize this
to begin with?

I mean, a classic
Rodrigo move, right?

Rodrigo had just returned to us,

and this was his idea.

I thought it was unconventional,

but that's very much Rodrigo,
and that's why I love him.

So I thought, well,
let's give it a shot.

I wanted to encourage Rodrigo

because he had just come back,

so I thought let's...
Let's give it a shot.

Has a orchestra of this size...

Don't film me.
Actually, do film me

in case I want it for later
just to have...

I don't know if I'm gonna be...

What kind of documentary
this is gonna be yet,

if I'm gonna be off camera
or on camera,

so we get one of both, each.

Maybe we get one of each.

Better to have
extra fabric in the legs
and then take the pants in,

you know what I'm sayin'?

Um, has an orchestra
of this size ever, uh,
played, uh,

in this facility before?

- No, this is the first time...
- Not of this size.

This is the first time
we've had an orchestra,

um, perform for
the inmate population

in, uh, Rikers Island.

Okay, ladies and gentlemen,

you have now reached
Rikers Island security
check point.

Uh, once you get off the bus,

you will be given
further instructions

on, uh, clearing
the security check point.
Okay?

All right, people, listen up.

Penal law 305.25
is a D felony.

Anyone caught with
contraband will get arrested.

We do not discriminate here
in Rikers Island.

No cell phones, no tobacco,
no electronic equipment.

I didn't know
where we were going,

and, uh, frankly, I didn't care.

I trusted it was gonna be
some musical experience,

and I was cool with that.

We walked up and there's...

You know, there's Manhattan,
the skyline,

and... and then there's
the fencing.

It was kind of a...
It had a weird
beauty to it.

To listen to music

is definitely, uh...
Is a right.

You know? Um,
and to make music,
therefore, but...

Is to listen to
this type of music,
I think, it is a right.

I think it is
something that, uh...

That anyone should be allowed to

because the thing
that gives you peace,

even if peace is not allowed

into... into your world.

Music is the biggest,
uh, common denominator.

We're looking for reasons why to

keep on playing as an orchestra.

Go up to the skyline,
then come back,

but make it look like
you still care about
what he's saying.

...I think we're gonna
find something here,

which I don't know
what it's gonna be,

but it's only doing it that
we're gonna find out

the real reason why we're here.

Nice.

As all things good,
it is gonna be reciprocate.

They're gonna
give it back to us,

and they're gonna give us, um...

a way of, um...

You know,
a-a reason of why to-to...

To do what we do.

Are you nervous?

Yeah.

Yeah, kind of...

nervous, but at the same time,

it's gonna be perhaps
one of the...

best audiences
we're ever gonna have.

Well,
what we're gonna play today

is little pieces from
the same composer.

He fought in the
second World War,

when he was taken prisoner.

And most of his most
important prominent works,

come when the time that
he was in the prison camp.

In the beginning, I didn't
know what was going on,

but then I saw the orchestra,
and I said,

I don't like that kind of stuff.

So I just sat down,
and for the first time
in my life,

I enjoyed it because
it's something...

Something I experienced for
the first time in my life.

I never experienced
something like that.

Never heard, really,
music like that.

Even though I
lived in New York
my whole life,

never went to no concert
like that, nothin',

so it was an experience.

I just closed my eyes
and I was letting
the instruments

just come to me,

and I just felt free
like that, you know?

It was just...
It was just...

a different type of feeling.

Like you could say
I was in, like, a trance.

Like, I was here physically,
but emotionally and spiritually,

like, I was, you know, gone.

Okay.

So, Messiaen,
he used all his senses

when he was imprisoned
to escape.

He believed that, uh...
that the music gives
the power to fly.

He loved birds,

and amongst them was
the nightingale.

Okay, well,
he wrote a piece
for the nightingale.

This is a bird that
sings at night only.

So basically,
this bird you cannot see,

but you can listen.

A little bit like God.

Ondes Martenot interview,
take one.

It's pronounced...

"Ond Marten-oh."

The last name Martenot was
the name of the inventor?

That's right,
the engineer who built it.

What does Ondes mean?

Ondes means wave.

So wave and then his name.

Yeah, his wave.

I always imagined that
I would play this instrument
in a jail.

- Really?
- Yes, because it was...

born out of
such a utopic vision,

and then it's the one sound
that Messiaen took with him

when he went to prison.

Messiaen was very sure
that at the end,
love conquered all,

and that hope was there.

He wrote this piece
straight after he
came out of prison.

So here's the ending.

See, I... I always...
I always wanted to go
to see an orchestra,

a symphony orchestra.
I mean, to take my girl out
and black tie and everything.

It's my first time
being there in an orchestra,

and it was...
It was an experience.

And it was, uh, nice.
It was a beautiful experience.

I've never before
saw an orchestra play

until yesterday.

And it was magnificent, man.

I can't describe it,
it was like...

my hair is rising up.

It was incredibly memorable

to see how they would,
like, close their eyes,

and they would just
listen to the music.

It was incredible.
It was...

That's gonna stay with me,
watching them

listen to the music,
and letting themselves go.

It... I just...
I could zone now.

Just see my...
It just makes me
think about my family.

Peace of mind, you know?

Tranquility,
I could just really
fall asleep to it,

have good dreams to it.

Just peaceful,
basically, for real.

You know, I had my mind in
a lot of different places.

Some... Like, sometimes
I went dark,

sometimes I went happy.

Life, death. Freedom.

The feelings that
got dark was positive.
You know?

Nothing was negative
about that experience.

I found myself smiling a lot,

and I found myself lost,

you know, just hearing
a lot of the sound.

You know,
it's just hard to
just let yourself go

the way you really
want to, but, yeah,

it bring a lot of feeling
and, you know,

and, yeah, it...
I... I was in touch
with myself.

This is gonna be a
one time in a lifetime
thing, right?

Wonderful. Beautiful.

I enjoyed it.

Beautiful.

It took me away
from where I'm at,
definitely did.

You know, it...
It made me think a lot,

and as the birds were flying,
it was a very beautiful day.

Even when I went out to
the yard today,

I went out earlier, you know,

I went around and did
my little work out,

and I seen, I said, wow,
everything is gone,

like, yesterday,
everything was there,

and then today everything's
just gone just like that.

I said, wow,
but I could still imagine,

like, seeing everything
in my head.

Everything was
just there yesterday,

and... and it was so...
So...

The vibe was just so
brilliant. It's great.

When we share these
very intense experiences,

and I think what...
What's interesting is that

the family aspect came together

by the fact that all of our
different experiences

were being played at that time.

We had no time to prepare.

Um, we rehearsed very little.

So when we got
our experiences of not
being with each other

so in that sense,
it's like a family reunion.

I feel at peace again.

That we're...
finally have things humming
the way it should be again,

and we're... we have...
We're whole,

and we have a future.

.srt Extracted, Resynced by
Dan4Jem, XII.MMXVI