Saturday, August 14, 2021

The Sound of Music

I recently watched The Sound of Music and noticed a small (and possibly just coincidental) connection between the movie's opening and Psalm 121:1, which is quoted by the Reverend Mother near the end of the movie.  The way she says it, it sounds like a statement:  "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence [sic] cometh my help."  I'm more familiar with it as a question:  "I lift up my eyes to the hills.  From where does my help come?"  This is answered by the following verse:  "My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth."

The Psalm starts with the Psalmist looking at the hills, and in more ways than one, the movie also starts with hills.  Visually, it opens with multiple establishing shots of mountains and hills, and musically, it starts with the line "The hills are alive with the sound of music."