by Kathleen C. Fennessy
Alejandro Amenábar, the Spanish director of acclaimed horror film The Others, also composed the score -- which makes him one of a select few indeed (Mike Figgis, of Leaving Las Vegas fame, is another). As he states in the liner notes, "It was my avid listening to soundtracks as a child that inspired my interest in movies. I then started writing and composing melodies for my little stories." In other words, the composing came first, then the directing. This instrumental soundtrack, performed by the London Session Orchestra, is as subtle and sophisticated as his World War II-set feature, which doesn't rely on special effects or gore for its shocks, but is more of a psychological thriller in the vein of The Innocents or The Haunting (with Nicole Kidman as the strict but loving English mother of two frail children). For the most part, the music is spare and restrained with occasional eruptions into … » Read more