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West Side Story (1961)
Continue to watch movies in AFI100. This is a very famous song and dance film. I have heard of it a long time ago. I like musical and dance films. Naturally, I can't miss it.
The movie tells a tragic love story triggered by racial spears. On the streets of the city, there are two groups of young people, one is a white man who grew up in the United States, and the other is a Latino who came to the United States from Puerto Rico. The two groups look at each other uncomfortably and often conflict. When a conflict occurs, the two groups usually resolve it by means of a basketball game. After a conflict, the White people felt that this method could not solve the problem and decided to use force. They made an appointment with the Latins and prepared to fight. At the same time, the Latin leader’s sister and the white leader’s brother fell in love at a dance. After they learned about the rush, the white leader’s brother decided to stop them. When he came to the rushing spot, the two sides had already fought. When the white leader's brother was trying to fight, the Latin leader stabbed his brother to death. He immediately lost control, fought with the Latin leader, and stabbed the Latin leader to death. After the murder, the brother of the white leader found the sister of the Latin leader, and the two decided to elope. At this time, in order to avenge the leader, a Latino shot and killed the brother of the white leader when the lovers met. Finally, the Latin leader, the white leader, and the brother of the white leader all died. The sister of the Latin leader took a look at the body of the white leader’s brother and left sadly.
Although this movie is a song and dance film, this film is different from other song and dance movies. The usual song and dance films are comedy, happy, and relaxed, which makes the audience feel happy in the process of watching the movie, but this film tells a tragic story, one that makes people feel heavy after watching it. story. This is the first time I have seen a song and dance film ending in a tragedy. Although I have always liked musicals, what I like is the kind of relaxed and happy musicals. Songs and dances with nice songs, nice dances, and positive content are my favorite. Obviously, this movie doesn't suit my taste and makes me unable to like it. However, compared with comedy, tragedy can bring greater emotional impact to the audience, and it can also bring more thoughts, so it is very appropriate for the film to use tragedy to express the story.
Through the tragic story told in this film, let us think about the price young people pay in the process of growing up. This is the theme of the film. In the movie, there is no deep hatred between the two groups. The confrontation between them is only a racial contradiction. It is racism at work. If you really want to find a reason, it's just that the Latins occupy some of the territory that originally belonged to the whites, and the Latins did not provoke the whites. Because of such a small matter, the two groups of people confronted each other, from the two sides playing basketball games and meeting each other, until the leaders of both sides were killed in the conflict, their behavior was too naive. What they do can be described in many words, such as impulsive, naive, innocent, blind, irresponsible, irrational, and so on. What they can sum up in one word is immaturity. As for the mistakes they made before killing, I won't list them one by one, because there are too many, too many to count. In short, it is the old saying-this is the price of growth.
The story of the film also involves ethnic conflict, which reflects reality. Thinking back to the time when the film was released, the racial conflicts in the United States during that period were much greater than it is now, that's why the tragedy in the film appeared. The tragedy shown in this film is very emotionally shocking. After watching it, the audience will reflect on the harm caused by racism, and it will also sound the alarm for those racists. Tell them that conflict not only hurts each other, but also hurts yourself. This is one of the great advantages of the film. The director did not forcefully inculcate the right and wrong, good and bad of racism. Instead, through a tragic story, let the audience think for themselves. This is the cleverness of the film’s director. .
In addition to describing the conflicts and racial contradictions between the two groups, the other main line is the love story of the hero and heroine. Their love story is very beautiful, very romantic, but not realistic. They met in a dance party and died in love, and the heroine can still sleep with this man after the man she loves killed her brother, which violates the basic laws of human emotional life. However, this is a musical, a highly staged and artistic genre. In such a genre, since the characters can sing and dance as they want, so do two men and women who want to love. It's normal. Love makes sense no matter how it comes.
Finally, let's talk about the song and dance of this movie. As mentioned earlier, this film does not meet my taste. There are two reasons. One is that I don't like the story of the movie, it is too heavy, and the second is that the songs and dances of the film have a mediocre feeling, that is, there are no catchy songs and no dazzling dances. However, I don't like it. I don't prove that this movie is not good. To be fair, the songs and dances in the movie are very closely integrated with the plot, and the emotions of the characters are appropriately expressed. There are not many singing and dancing scenes in the movie, but they appear in a timely manner, expressing the emotions and plot of the characters. The songs in the movie have a characteristic. In many scenes, the same melody is used to change the lyrics to express the emotions of different characters. The song that impressed me the most is the song "Tonight", which appears not only four or five times in the movie. I was so impressed with "Tonight". Another reason is that Glee sang a cover and Tina hummed a few lines in the play. The dance that impressed me the most was the passage where the Latins danced and sang on the roof after the prom, which was very Latin. The song was called "America". In general, because of the age of the movie, the songs and dances in this movie are not in line with the aesthetics of modern people. However, in terms of the story, song, dance and the emotional expression of the characters, the song and dance in this film are still It's outstanding.
There is one more thing to mention in this film. There are too many fake scenes in the movie and too few real scenes. Although the scenes of the story in the movie are very concentrated, and most of the plot is similar to the song and dance of the stage play, the fake scenes in the movie are used too much. Fake scenes can be used for indoor scenes, but fake scenes on the street are unnecessary! This is not so much a movie as it is a stage play shot with a movie camera. To watch such a movie, it is better to go to the scene of a stage play.
Writing here, I can’t help but think that the actors in this movie are probably dead or old. How do they feel when they see themselves bouncing around when they were young? It’s strange that the heroine Natalie Wood is not Latin, but Russian. But the Latin woman she plays is very charming, especially the English with a Latin accent, which is very interesting. The lead actor Richard Beymer is very familiar. After checking the information, he found out that he had played Bad Dad in "Double Peaks", and now I know that there are many well-known actors in "Double Peaks". Rita Moreno, another actress and wife of a Latin leader, is a pure Puerto Rican, no wonder she dances so well.
In general, a song and dance film that is not easy to "see" and listen to now, but the tragic story is thought-provoking, and it is indeed representative in American movies.
Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood
Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno
Sequence: 0545
West Side Story.West.Side.Story.1961.HDTV.MiniSD-TLF
2011-09-10
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