Cabaret

Released: 1971
Directed by: Bob Fosse
Staring: Liza Minnelli, Michael York & Helmut Griem

Life is a Cabaret old Chum!

I've seen Cabaret a few times. This was Alex's first (and probably only) watch of it. I realized I like the music in it, Sally Bowles drives me nuts, and other than watching the Nazi rise to power nothing REALLY happens. 

Sally Bowles - You can tell she "didn't get enough love in [her] childhood." (See what I did, quote from another Bob Fosse Musical?). She is self-centered, high maintenance, and selfish. She absolutely only cares for herself. When she asks Brian (Michael York) about himself she constantly interrupts. When he repeats the things she says in a later conversation, proving he listened to her, she brushes them off. She hardly cares about his feelings even after they get together. She makes decisions based on what's best for Sally Bowles and no one else. By the end of the movie, you HOPE she has learned something, but really not. She just waves goodbye & sings about loving being on stage. 

Brian Roberts - You do see some growth in Michael York's character. He was introverted and a bit stuffy before he came to Weimar Germany. He drank a lot, had an affair with a guy & a girl. Decided this Nazi crap is too much (and Sally is never going to put "me and the baby" first) and went home to Cambridge. 

Maximilian - Well clearly he had no growth. He is just a super wealthy playboy. I do wish they had a little more closure on his story line.  

Natalia & Fritz - They actually had a lot of growth. Natalia learned to come out of her shell. In looking to marry someone for money, Fritz fell madly in love with Natalia and in spite the dire situation for Jews in Nazi Germany, pronounced that he "[was] a Jew." 

The side characters were entertaining, and the Kit Kat Club was great. Joel Grey is super creepy.  I like that the songs weren't terribly long, but made commentary on what was going on in the movie.


All in all, not a whole lot happens...it's kind of a character study? I know it won 8 Oscars, but they weren't for the story they were for sound, music, direction, cinematography, art-direction, actress & supporting actor.


Another few thoughts:
-Really Sally? You wanted to become an actress so you went to Weimar Germany at the height of hyper inflation to become an actress? 


-I feel like Natalia & Fritz were left unfinished. Yes, they got married so they got their happily ever after. However, we all know what comes in the next few years. Do they escape Germany? It's just left up in the air.


-We all knew Maximilian wasn't going to take them to Africa (well Sally I guess did). I guess Maximilian & Brian had a goodbye thing and then had to leave. I liked the awkward scene in the car, but then he just left. Yes, he had a note, but seriously? A little closure would be nice.


-Baz Luhrmann must have been a fan of Fosse!


-For 1972, this was a very progressive movie! A film that has affairs, homosexuality, abortion....while all of that is off screen, it's still very progressive, I feel.


-The amount of alcohol & cigarettes they smoke...oh...my..god! That baby would have been doomed! I did like that she just walked home after having the procedure. I feel like she would have been in a little more pain ESPECIALLY given the time period!?!?!?! 


-I enjoyed the Nazi rise to power. Although I would think Germany would be slightly upset. While people were against the Nazi's in the beginning. It does seem like the only ones against them are the foreigners (i.e.The British..i.e. Michael York). I really thought this progression was really good.


-They used some UGLY actors & actresses in this movie. During the "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" song...they're all singing very loudly & proudly with their mouths wide open & just gives me shivers.

I like the music, but I think I'm okay hanging this on the shelf and watching other movies instead.

Les Miserables

As I mentioned, we went to go see Les Miserables at the Fox Theater yesterday. I initially noticed I had problems understanding the words. About 5 minutes later, Alex leaned over to say "Can you understand what's going on?"

I should have read the synopsis. I know it's supposed to be sad, and the music was great, but I was underwhelmed. 

First, this is not a musical, it's an opera. Everything is sung, which made it a wee bit harder to understand. Second, I felt like there were so many characters going on, I couldn't develop an attachment...and thus when people started dying, I wasn't as invested. I have an issue with the costumes...for those of us in the cheap seats...I needed strong differences in costumes to be able to tell everyone apart.


Fantine - So I guess she portrayed herself as a virgin, but had a kid she was taking care of? Why should the other women care that she was sending her paycheck to her kid? Yes, the kid was illegitimate, but so what? Valjean sees her on the street after she sold a locket, became a prostitute & fought an abusive customer. Valjean recognizes her from the factory and takes her to a hospital. She dies asking Valjean to care for her daughter Cosette. 


Javet - You spent your whole life chasing a guy who was in prison for stealing bread to feed his family? Did he really not have anything better to do? 


Cossette - Fantine's daughter. The little girl who played her was super cute! She could sing and had a little bit of the Annie voice, but without being obnoxious. The people who run the inn were my favorite part of the show. They were bad people, but entertaining. She instantly bonds with Valjean, because he's not cruel to her. He raises her as his own. She falls in love with Marius (by fall in love, I mean they bumped into each other, Marius thought she was beautiful and thus he was "in love." They found a way to meet via Eponine and well the end up together). 


Marius - Marius is a bit of a jerk. Your good friend, Eponine is willing to set you up with the girl your parents treated like crap (oh yeah Eponine is the inn keeper's little girl all grown up, poor and on the street). Marius is one of the student revolutionaries (I'm not sure what they were fighting for, other than better working conditions, but if they are students...they wouldn't be factory workers...I don't know...)


Eponine - I had to read on Wikipedia to figure out who she was. Again...not being able to understand the words/music is a problem in a musical...She helps Marius & Cossette get together. 


At the end of Act 1, Valjean is going to go into exile, Cosette & Marius part in despair, as he's going to the rebellion, Eponine is sad that her friend can't see he loves her, instead he's infatuated with the beautiful girl that used to live with Eponine. 


Act II:


Act II went much quicker, because we pulled up a summary and read what was going on...so we figured out who the characters were and what their intentions were.  GO Figure!


Javert goes undercover to spy on the students (really you needed to spy? You're the French Army at the height of power...you can't just take down their tiny barricade?). Marius sees that Eponine has dressed like a man and so Marius gives Eponine a letter to give to Cossette. She does, Valjean intercepts and reads the letter. Valjean goes to the front line to get Marius. Eponine sings one of my favorite songs, On My Own. She gets shot...duh...and dies. Marius is devistated. Valjean has, at this time, found the barracks and made it in safely. He saves someone & gets to kill a prisoner (again...this is what I found out after reading the plot). 


The prisoner to kill is Javert, they found out he was a spy at some point. Valjean spares Javert. The french army is, surprise surprise, overpowering them. All are killed except...again a surprise...Valjean & Marius! Valjean escapes in the sewers and at one point, the old inn keeper is down there (didn't recognize him as him...oops) and steals Marius's ring. They make it out alive & run into Javert. Javert allows Vajlean to take Marius to the hospital. Javert suddenly realizes mercy and commits suicide. Really? You spent your whole life chasing this man who stole bread 30 years ago...when you realize oh he isn't evil, you decide you're conflicted and jump off a bridge (however the production of this was really well done...even if I didn't get the character development). 


Cossette & Marius are back together and they go to get married. Valjean tells Marius about the prison & Cossette's mother. They get married. The inn keepers crash the party and tell Marius that Valjean stole this ring from him. Marius, being a student & thus a bright guy, realizes Valjean carried him to safety. Marius punches the inn keeper (not because Cossette recognized him for treating them so poorly, but because he tried to swindle him). They go off to say goodbye to Valjean who is old and dying. 


Fantine comes to help usher him to heaven, Cossette & Marius are able to say goodbye. Eponine comes out to also usher him to heaven (because you know she & Valjean had such a connection in the 5 minutes they met). 


I just feel like there was too much going on, and not understanding what was going on was difficult. The stage was dark, so I couldn't follow along in the program. 


The sets were really good, the choreography great, the singing was really good (although a couple times Valjean's falsetto was a little weird). I just couldn't understand the words. It was like it was in another language. Because of that, and I felt there was so much story, they development of the characters was rushed. 


I didn't even get teary eyed at the end...and I cry at Publix commercials. I'm looking forward to watching the Liam Neeson version...with subtitles...I think the story will end up being much more compelling. 










 

The Sound of Music

Released: 1965

Directed by: Robert Wise

Starring: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker

Last week, we finished The Sound of Music. Alex had actually not seen it before. (I'm glad I can introduce him to musicals & chick-flics). We watched it in two sittings, because at the intermission, Alex said, "What do you mean we're only half way over?!"

The Sound of Music was a movie I grew up watching over and over again. My mother had a knitting bag that kind of looked like Maria's travel bag. My brother & I would swing that around singing "I have confidence." We'd sing "How do you solve a problem like Maria" to my cousin Maria. I'm sure she loved me for that one....


It was a classic, and I can't imagine what the VHS tapes looked like! Amazon had the Bluray box set on sale for $25, and I jumped on it! Yes the 50 year anniversary is coming up soon, but that was a few years away. It was kinda neat not to have to switch tapes (remember if you didn't rewind the second tape, then you were stuck rewinding it before watching it again!)

Anyway...


In the opening scenes where Maria is "high on the hills" singing about "The Sound of Music," you can actually see the blades of grass! The cinematography is beautiful and comes through perfectly on Blu-ray. I think I may start saving for a trip to Salzburg. There are hours and hours of extras on the 4 disc Blu-ray collection. I haven't even begun to look through that!

Besides the iconic music, there's another level to the movie. A level I missed when I was growing up (the last time I watched this I was probably in Middle School). It's the love story and Anschluss. I've seen the play twice, and I still feel that the movie does a better job at the undertones. I feel this is in a large part to the wonderful acting of Julie Andrews & Christopher Plummer.

When Maria & the Captain first meet, you can see something in their eyes. Maria, taken aback at his harshness, but clearly finding him handsome (who wouldn't). The Captain finding her ugly dress and lack of formality disarming. You can actually see their love progress in their facial expressions. He wants to laugh when she falls backward off the boat. You can see Maria warming his heart through his eyes. Yet, he's still a childhood boy when he comes to ask her why she came back. He knew she loved him, but still he danced around and wanted to be sure before he put himself out there.

Something else I missed as a child (unrelated), when Maria gives her speech at the first dinner, I completely missed why the girls were crying. Yep, I thought Maria was beyond naive and just happened to be praying about Liesl when she snuck back in the house. She ended up being much more clever than I thought!

Speaking of Liesl, I was always more interested in Liesl & Rolfe, because they were closer to my age. Turns out, Rolfe isn't too much of a nice guy. If you think about it..he sings a song telling her you're young, you don't know anything, and you need me to tell you what to do. How sweet. From the start he's clearly okay with the Anschluss & Hilter, telling Liesl that her father better watch out if he knows what's good for him. 


Because he was "seventeen going on eighteen," he was definitely brainwashed as a Hitler Youth, or an Austrian equivalent. The scene with the Captain takes his gun away in the abbey, is such a deep scene. You can see the old Rolfe who may care about Liesl is still down there. However, when the Captain comes down too hard on him, his ego takes over and he yells for the Lieutenant.

The rest of the kids don't really show a lot of growth or in a deep character development. Maria is "firm but kind" with them and they grow to love & respect her, actually really quickly. Enough so that they call her "mother" once her & the Captain were married, which always struck me as a bit odd. 

When the crowd sings Edelweiss with the Captain, I think it shows that deep down regardless of if they supported it or not, Austrians wanted Austria to remain Austrian. I could see where the Austrians felt the movie portrayed them in a poor light. I'm in different to this. The movie shows a few sides of the Anschluss, personified in different characters:

The Captain - The resistance to the Anschluss and love of the "old" Austria.

Max - He'll go with whomever is in power, because that's the easiest way to get along

Hans Zeller - Nazi enthusiast

The Baroness - silent on the issue

On one hand, being a history major, knowing the Austrians held parades, and seemed relatively welcoming to Nazi Germany...makes it a little bit hard to fight on their side. I also have a basic understanding of human nature - basically Max, you make more friends with honey so it's best to just get along. But ultimately, it's a movie. If you feel that bad about how one movie portrayed your country, get over it. The movie is about a family being torn up over a war, they don't believe in, for a country that has separated from it's past. 

(Another side note: I didn't really get the Nazi thing when I was little. I thought the Captain didn't answer a telegraph, and thus they wanted to lock him up. As a child I just thought, hmm they're awful funny about their mail...not that Austrian's just let the Nazi's take over their country).

Even though the movie does not portray the "real" story of the Von Trapp family, the movie is on every "Movie you have to see..." list. It was nominated for 10 Academy awards. It won five. It was nominated for four Golden Globes and won two. Everyone should see it at least once.