Not "The Godfather", but "The Cabaret"

Valentina 2021-12-21 08:01:16

The great thing about "Song Hall" lies in its ability to innovate.

This article was first published in the November 2012 issue of "Global Screen" with changes.

The impression of musicals is usually like this: tell a short story-sing a song-tell a short story-another person sing a song-finally something big happened-it doesn't matter, in a final song, solve Drop all contradictions-the end of the play.

"I like watching musicals", it always sounds like a very strange expression, it is not as natural as "I like comedy", "like suspense" and "like chasing drama". Because the song and dance film is not like a real movie, the ending is too clear, the narrative will be weakened by the song and dance, and the middle is like a sudden interruption of ten music advertisements. It takes three to four minutes to repeat the amount of information; the appearance of the song and dance film is used to Escape from the real world, so always point to love or a good career harvest: the world is very beautiful, and it is very happy to fight every day, no matter how big difficulties are, it is not for the special research and love of pleasing singing and dancing itself, for most people So why bother? It's better to relax than to watch a concert.

To watch a musical, either the audience has received the traditional influence of this art form and knows what it is all about, or the filming is very good in all aspects, making people "feel so beautiful, it makes people look forward to it." "Such pleasure is either to follow the trend and look at the classics. Basically, there are not many complicated reasons.

What I said above is all prejudice, after "King Hall" appeared in the world of musicals.

In 1973, "The Godfather" won the Oscar for Best Picture that year, and has since become a legend. But it was not the real winner of the night. The Best Director Award (Francis Coppola) was not nominated, and the Best Editing Award was unexpectedly missed. Almost all the honors planned to have were won by "King Hall". "The Cabaret" won 8 important awards, and the best picture was lost to "The Godfather"-it was an accident, and people were even surprised at that time.

The great thing about "Song Hall" lies in its ability to innovate.

It is not that kind of musical. It doesn't praise beauty, but each song is full of a deep satire of reality, which makes people shudder. The story takes place in Berlin in the 1930s. There are two scenes: in the karaoke hall, everything is only related to pleasure and wine; outside the karaoke hall, the Nazi forces are secretly surging. The two seem to have no intersection, but in fact they are their own portrayal. Jews, wealthy people, paupers, homosexuals, bisexuals, Germans, British, Nazis... all kinds of characters, complicated relationships and clues are this "pre-war Ukiyo-e".

As a famous movie in film history, "King Hall" has always been less famous, not as "must-see" like "The Sound of Music" and "Song in the Rain", but it is more like a joint code: if you recognize "King Hall", then you I have seen what a real good movie looks like. No one can deny that "The Cabaret" and "The Godfather" have considerable depth. Compared with Bob Foss, the great director of "The Cabaret", Francis Coppola in 1937 was just a young young man. Speaking of themes such as love and human nature, Bob Foss's "The Cabaret" is even more accessible.

The first thing the movie talks about is the taboo of love.

Can a karaoke girl chasing fame and fortune be with a Cambridge man who teaches practically? American cabaret girl Sally Bowles and British teacher Brian Robles live in an apartment in Berlin. Sally pursues hedonism and expresses in the song "The Cabaret", "Even if you die from alcohol and drugs. Whatever it takes to live faith; Brian is willing to make a living by teaching English to earn 3 marks a day. What makes him the happiest is just staying in a little room in Cambridge and concentrating on studying. The two loved them deeply and planned to get married with their sons. The woman knew that she could not leave the nature of wine and money. Later, she broke up the child and decided to break up.

Can heterosexuals and bisexuals be together? After Sally and Brian went to bed, she fell in love with the rich and powerful Baron Max. The three of them came together and formed a strange and natural relationship: when she and Brian slept, he sat beside him; she and Mike He was watching while Si was dancing. This is a love triangle story of two bisexuals and one heterosexual. That was a 1973 movie.

Can the pauper be with the rich? Bryan’s student Fritz Wendell fell in love with Natalia Randall, a wealthy daughter who came to learn English. Fritz has repeatedly courted to no avail. He began to doubt his origin, perhaps because Are you too poor? Later, he learned that the other party also loved him, and he had never agreed to marry him only a little bit. The woman was Jewish, so she was afraid of hurting her. In the end, Frieze disclosed his Jewish identity, which he had painstakingly concealed for many years, for the sake of love, and the two eventually became married.

More complicated than the taboo of love, it is about the darkness of human nature. In addition to the willful and beautiful love, the movie records another side of the terrible and real. The Nazis gave the human theme to fear, and the illusion of love may become a bubble. People will bid farewell to the enjoyable life that can forget their troubles, and must face death directly.

How did the Nazis begin? If "White Ribbon" tells the childhood of the Nazis, "The Cabaret" tells about the youth of the Nazis-in the film, people put the rumors of Jews and bankers colluding in the newspapers, and ignorant people listened to them without any doubt. . There is a song called "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" (Tomorrow Belongs to Me). The previous paragraph described various wonderful scenes in the world, such as "The branches of the linden tree are covered with green leaves", "The baby in the cradle closes his eyes "Then the conversation turned: "But in a certain corner, the honor is waiting for us, and tomorrow belongs to us." The people were obviously moved by the beauty of the singing, but they didn't realize the hidden crisis behind them, and they all sang along. A karaoke hall that does not ask anything about the world is a typical representative of the blind masses. In the context of enjoyment, the Nazis have the opportunity to take advantage of it. At the beginning of the film, the camera focused on the delighted expressions of people in the audience, seemingly unaware of the coming of the crisis. At the end of the film, under the reflection of the metal setting on the stage, we saw more soldiers in Nazi uniforms in the audience-the evil finally invaded, and the city was still unaware of it.

Although the karaoke hall represents shallowness and vanity, the film uses the singing and dancing performance of the karaoke hall to express the naked reality. There are a few scenes (singing and dancing clips) that are worth watching repeatedly, especially "If You Could See Her" (If You Could See Her), which uses a funny way to compare the love between people and gorillas to Jews and other races. The love between them hints at the cruel situation the Jews have already faced in the film. A man dressed like a clown stood on the stage. He sang and explained why he likes a girl—"If you know her like me, you will change your opinion"; after a period of singing, a man standing beside him The "woman" who turned her back and put on a cloak turned around. It turned out to be a gorilla played by a human. The audience underneath burst into laughter; but the performance continued, and the "clown man" showed the gorilla to the gorilla. With admiration, continue to repeat its chants: "If you can see her like me, you won’t be surprised; if you can understand her like I do, you will fall in love with her like I do.” At this time Outside of the karaoke hall, the Jews are about to suffer. Every singing and dancing performance in "King Hall" is the backstage and commentary of the story to be told in "King Hall" itself. It is isolated from the plot itself. Most of it is composed of Sally Bowles (Lisa Minnelli) and a The cabaret clown (played by Joel Gray), who does not participate in the entire storyline at all, is done, but it makes the truth more straightforward.

Thirty years later, "Chicago" won the Oscar for Best Picture. The two are very similar. First of all, they are not the song and dance film of the joyous gala. It is a realistic theme. "Chicago" is also very ironic. The irony is the legal system, the media, and the public. This is how the two prisoners fight to gain exposure. A story of fame and fortune; "Chicago" is a musical created on Broadway by Bob Foss, director of "The Cabaret" in 1975; both composers are John Kendall, and their styles are somewhat similar. If you can’t understand musicals, "King Hall" and "Chicago" will tell you how this type of movie tells a story.

The movie’s starring Lisa Minnelli’s mother is Judy Garland, and his father is Vincent Minnelli. His mother, Judy Garland, starred in the famous "Wizard of Oz", and his father won an award for directing "Kiki" (also called "The World of Golden Powder"). Her performance is top-notch, and she is luckier than her parents, because as far as song and dance movies are concerned, "King Hall" is even more of a milestone.

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Extended Reading
  • Moshe 2022-04-21 09:02:30

    Bisexuality was really innovative in those days == "I do." "So do I." I was shocked...

  • Jessika 2021-12-21 08:01:16

    This movie is an addiction and cannot be quit. Nazi's dark line is really brilliant! The apocalyptic sentiment that it laid adds a lot of depth to the story, but the most terrible thing is that through perfect editing, the main line of love stories, musical clips and sub-lines can coexist and interact in such a way. Pushing and digging into each other is a miracle!

Cabaret quotes

  • Sally: Does it really matter so long as you're having fun?

  • Sally: Have you got a cigarette? I'm desperate!