Robert Hargrove

A Transformational Coaching Tale

I was riding the Long Island railroad the other day and heard two guys across the aisle talking about the fact that Blockbuster video was going bankrupt. This was no surprise to me, as I converted to Netflix about a year or so ago, which does web-based, instant streaming movies. I saw a great film on Netflix, five star in my book, called As It Is in Heaven, directed by Kay Pollak and starring Michael Nyqvist and Frida Hallgren. It was a box office hit in Sweden and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Hollywood 77th Academy Awards.

This is a film about Daniel Daréus (Michael Nyqvist), a successful and renowned international conductor whose life aspiration is to create music that will open people’s hearts. His own heart, however, is in bad shape. After suffering a heart attack on stage at the end of a performance, he retires indefinitely to Norrland in the far north of Sweden, to the village where he endured a terrible childhood of bullying.

He takes over the job of head of the church choir with a small group of people. This is a inspirational story about how a great maestro (masterful coach) not only makes great music, but has a totally transformational impact on the choir, the lives of the people in it, and the village itself. This is not a nicey-nice story; there is plenty drama, excellent character development, even a healthy dose of sex and violence. I highly recommend it.