My favorite scene in this year's summer blockbuster, The Avengers, is at the German museum, where Loki (Tom Hiddleston ) interrupts a fancy Soiree. A string quartet plays Schubert's Rosamunde Quartet Op. 29 in A minor. Director Joss Whedon and his music man Alan Silvestri choreographed the scene perfectly with the music. It starts calm but creepy, as the bad guy sneaks into the gallery. The music turns warmer, and Hiddleston's expressions and movement match each turn of the phrase. The action lets loose just as Schubert unleashes a torrent of triplets and trills. Silvestri added full orchestral force behind the string quartet giving those who know the piece an unexpected thrill. I liked it because it played on the stereotype that classical music is associated with black tie parties and rich people. But it also showed classical music's fiercer angle fit for accompanying a berserk demigod as terrifies museum goers.
In the following scene, a direct allusion to the Bible's scroll of Esther, celebrated in the Jewish holiday, Purim. Loki (analogous to Haman) orders everyone to bow down. A lone brave character is the only brave soul that refuses drawing connotations not only to Esther's Mordechai but to the Holocaust and Israel. When Loki prepares to carry out his wrath against the Jewish resistor, the situation is saved by who else other than Captain America. America, defender of Israel and the Jews. You gotta love Hollywood!
My second favorite scene was the unveiling of the high tech aircraft carrier megaship and all it's technology. Coming in third was the requisite Manhattan destruction scene.
