Phantom of the Opera

"Phantom of the Opera" is a movie about a disfigured musical genius that hid himself in the Paris Opera House.  He terrorizes the opera company for a young student whom he trains and falls in love with.  The musical appeared on Broadway in 1988 and was based on a French novel called "Le Fantome de l'Opera."  The "student" is Christine Daae, who is a beautiful soprano in the opera company.  The Phantom orders her to be the lead in all of the operas and will do anything to make that happen.  Whenever someone disobeys, he does something to either hurt them personally or hurt the show.  He is infuriated when Christine's childhood friend, Raoul, professes his love for her.  The Phantom is in love with Christine and tries his hardest to break them up.  The Phantom disappears for awhile, but returns when his masterpiece, Don Juan premieres.  He kills the male singer that is supposed to appear on stage with Christine and joins her for "The Point of No Return."  He then rips his mask off during the song to expose his distorted face to the audience and to Christine, even though she had already realized that it was him.  He then kidnaps her and takes her down to his lair once again.  Raoul follows and the Phantom traps him as asks Christine to choose either the Phantom or watch Raoul die.  Christine kisses the Phantom and tells him that he is not alone.  Therefore, the Phantom lets Raoul go and CChristine gives back the engagement ring that the Phantom gave her.  She leaves, and the Phantom smashes all the mirrors until he exposes a secret passageway behind one that he runs in to as the mob is entering the lair.  Then the movie flashes to the present, when Raoul is placing the music Monkey on Christine's grave, and we then see a rose with the engagement ring tied with a black ribbon to it also lying on her gravestone.

This movie and opera is amazing but very complicated.  There are so many facets to the plot but it is a wonderful story.  I think the ending is great because even though Christine left the Phantom, he professed his love to her and never gave up.  Even after she was gone, he still left his commitment to their love on her grave.  And at the same time, Raoul genuinely loved her too.  It is interesting that he put the monkey on the grave since that symbolizes the Phantom too.  It is as if Raoul understands the love between the Phantom and Christine as well, and he accepts it.  The musical factor to this opera is beautiful and complex.  I really enjoyed the movie and I think it is great how it directly correlates to the Broadway show as well.