The subjects of this documentary are the renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, an international orchestra which he created. Some of the other members, renowned in their respective countries and regions, are also interviewed. They include Kinan Azmeh (from Syria), Kayhan Kalhor (a Kurdish Iranian living in exile), Wu Man (from the Chinese province of Zhejiang), and Cristina Pato (from the Celtic region of Galicia in northwestern Spain).This film ably juxtaposes the spiritual beauty in discussions of music and culture against the troubles of the world including histories that are current (Syria), recent (Iran), and distant (the cultural revolution in China in the 1960s). These discussions also include the difficulty in maintaining culture and music during such difficult times. Similarly, modern economics is also a challenge to maintaining cultural history which is most important as many musical instruments are unique to certain countries and regions.As the main interviewee, Ma is inspirational due to his modesty, his intelligence, and his ability to articulate the spirituality he sees in his art. It is also refreshing to witness someone who is world famous but who also seems resistant to the trashy and vulgar sides of fame.One of the most gripping scenes is where Azmeh visits Syrian refugee camps in Syria and teaches basic music to a group of young girls. An aerial view of the camps is heart-wrenching.With such a great collective of music, I was expecting a grand finale. The finale was pleasant though it could have been more emotional. While this film takes on great principles, it occasionally seems a bit too earnest. But when it covers so much beautiful music, art, architecture, and spiritual values, how can one not like it? It's no surprise that its director, Morgan Neville, directed another musical documentary "20 Feet from Stardom" which was one of the best movies of 2013.

I've watched this movie during 9 hours flight from Dubai to Jakarta. And the only movie I watched till the end. It really moved me. Music and the other kind of arts really the best language to unite different cultures. It really the big idea from big person like Yo Yo Ma. The editing of this film really amazing and create a beautiful story. Bravo

Yo Yo Ma is legendary and the movie does act like somewhat of a biography of the man, but it's real focus is creating this orchestra that brings together music from many different nations and many different cultures to see how they would sound all as one. So the film gives us good music and a good message about coming together.While Ma is most likely the most well known of these musicians (At least for me, anyway) The movie does do a profile of a few of the other musicians as well.But for the most part, it's an excellent conceptual film that introduces all different types of music in the world and the people who make it and how that music can work as one.http://cinemagardens.com

"The Music of Strangers" is an American English-language movie from last year (2015). It runs for slightly over 1.5 hours and was directed by Morgan Neville, Oscar winner for "20 Feet from Stardom". And as much as I was disappointed with the latter, I am equally disappointed with this more recent work we have here. The center of it is famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma and we meet several members of his Silk Road orchestra. With this name, you obviously immediately understand that this is as much of a cultural project as it is a political. On a side-note, it is a bit of an equivalent of Daniel Barenboim's recent project (an orchestra that includes Israeli and Palestinean musicians). Ma, however, has people from all over the world, also countries far far away from the Silk Road, such as Spain or the United States. A lot of the focus is about Yo-Yo Ma himself and his life as a musician. We see interviews from decades ago where we find out what his view on things was back then.In addition to that we find out about some other members of the orchestra, for example an Iranian who struggles with his country's politics and the fact that he can not speak freely because his wife/girlfriend still lives there. Or a Spanish female singer who brings the spirit of the soil to the group. The latter reference already tells you that this is a fairly pretentious film on several occasions. Not only did I feel that I did not learn much at all about the music, the people's backgrounds or the concept of the orchestra in general, this lack of information was tried to get hidden behind an accumulation of seemingly important quotes and references (some downright poetic) and to me personally almost all of it rang pretty fake and scripted and staged. And honestly, why would we care what any of the people in here did on 911. It was a tragic day yes, but the reference to this film/project felt so non-existent to me.On a more positive note, the music is sometimes fine, even if I felt the musicians overacted a lot while performing. But honestly, I found most of the people depicted in here pretty unlikable and there are some cringeworthy sequences in there too, for example when Ma makes a joke about the sound of a noisy horse fart and everybody finds it oh so funny. Or the part when the one guy brings flutes to children and they exaggerate it all that it is oh so forbidden and that he is smuggling these and it is all so risky, but he is such a good guy and doesn't care about the risks. Guess what! It's risky? Do not film it. I am sure nobody suspected anything with a film crew accompanying the man. Cringeworthy stuff. This documentary has almost nothing to offer from the informative standpoint and if you want to hear the music, I suggest you just listen to a record from the ensemble or see them live. The experience is certainly much better than the one you get from watching this movie. 4 stars out of 10 is almost too generous. Big thumbs-down from me.