— smashes with God-like wrath through a wall of the building (at the altar of this former church), causing the death of the harpist beneath an avalanche of rubble. As the silenced fellow musicians reflect on this tragedy in a cloud of settling dust, the conductor steps in to eulogize with a motivational speech declaring that music requires them to play through the pain of life, to find strength, identity and guidance in the fated notes of its composition. Amid the ruins, the newly inspired musicians accommodatingly take to their instruments to deliver a tour de force redemptive performance. At its conclusion, however, the conductor's former words of fleeting praise once again sour to perfectionist dissatisfaction, resuming his comically agitated critique at the dais as the picture fades to black, to the swelling accompaniment of a classical opus. As the credit roll commences, the conductor's continued Italian dialogue berating the orchestra is heard to slip into dictatorial German barking, suggesting a sharper political allegory at play in the movie's message all along. Cast Balduin Baas - Conductor Clara Colosimo - Harp player Elizabeth Labi - Piano player Ronaldo Bonacchi - Bassoon player Ferdinando Villella] - Cello player Franco Iavarone - Bass tuba player (as Giovanni Javarone) David Maunsell - First violin Francesco Aluigi - Second violin Andy Miller - Oboe player Sibyl Amarilli Mostert - Flute player Franco Mazzieri - Trumpet player Daniele Pagani - Trombone player Luigi Uzzo - Violin player Cesare Martignon - Clarinet player Umberto Zuanelli - Copyist Filippo Trincaia - Head of orchestra Claudio Ciocca - Union man Angelica Hansen - Violin player Heinz Kreuger - Violin player Adaptations The film was adapted into an opera by Giorgio Battistelli, premiered in 1995 at the Opera du Rhin. References External links 1979 films Films about classical music and musicians Films directed by Federico Fellini Films scored by Nino Rota Films produced by Michael Fengler Italian political satire films Italian satirical films 1970s Italian-language films Films with screenplays by Federico Fellini Films adapted into operas 1970s Italian films