Austria, the late ’30s. Young aspiring nun, Maria (Julie Andrews) struggles to unite her quiet, disciplined life as a nun with her unyielding desire to run singing through the mountains. So the Mother Abbess (Peggy Wood) sends her away to be a governess for the seven motherless children of Captain Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer). Little does she know that the Von Trapps are actually lizard people in disguise, bent on world domination. Maria must summon her team of ninja-skilled nuns to do battle, or they will all become evil, man-eating reptilians.
Doug says...
The Sound of Music is a glittering shape-shifter of a film. It has the obvious appeal for children: great songs and choreography, heroes (Maria, the Abbess, the Children) and villains (the Baroness, the Nazis) and a tense finale where the Von Trapps are avoiding the Nazis in an Abbey graveyard. All brilliant stuff.
But where it becomes more interesting is watching it as an adult. The rosy-tinted glow that a child’s lack of historical knowledge imbues the film with is gone, and in its place is a deeply moving study of a country being pulled into a regime and a war that will ultimately end in mass slaughter the likes of which the modern Western world has no comparison. The characters become more layered, and take on different aspects.
For example, the Baroness. As a child I knew she was a Villain, making Maria scarper afraid. But as an adult I see far more levels of thought within her. She’s not evil, she just wants to marry the Captain, but when he eventually turns her down, she exits with poise and grace, telling him to go confess his love for Maria. It’s a beautifully subtle performance from Eleanor Parker, tinted with poignancy.
And wider still. We see the Captain tear down a swastika and rip it to pieces. As a child I skimmed over this (again: Nazis = bad, Captain = good, that’s all you need to know) but as an adult the gesture shows the genuine fear and disgust he has of the new terrifying regime that is about to spread over his beloved homeland. The film centres on this motif: the last days of a glorious era (incidentally the same premise as Gone With The Wind), when the children sing goodnight to the revellers at the Captain’s party, the waltzing elegant partygoers sing goodnight in return. The glamour is obvious, but again the sense of a beautiful civilisation about to be destroyed is overwhelming.
Julie Andrews is queen over all, obviously, and she’s backed up by some sublime performances. Peggy Wood as the wise Mother Abbess, Christopher Plummer as the stern but ultimately loving Captain and all of the seven children excel throughout. But as a child I focused on the story presented (governess transforms bereaved and warped family through music, and goes on to be their stepmother and help them escape from the Nazis), but as an adult I find the overall themes to actually lead. The music is fantastic, and with only one semi-dud ('Something Good' just drags the love-scene out) the songs are witty, clever and wholesome, but they are no longer the focus of this film for me.
Instead it’s the quiet moments that impress - when the Captain falters singing a love song to Austria (the sublime ‘Edelweiss’) before Maria helps him, followed by the entire audience singing along, the Nazis silently fuming in the front row. It’s the beautifully measured wedding bells as the Captain marries Maria turning into the sombre death notes that accompany the Nazis ‘rise to power.
And ultimately that’s what impressed me even more watching this as an adult: there is no real saccharine element. Coming twenty years after the war, many of the viewers would have known what those times were like, and would have shuddered at the sight of the swastika. It’s a film that doesn’t pull its punches and delivers differently every time you watch it. In short, it’s a masterpiece.
Highlight
The moment the entire audience sings ‘Edelweiss’ together, their hope in their country swelling and overpowering the Nazis is a genuine tear-jerking moment. Goosebumps.
Lowlight
It’s the smallest of niggles, but in a scene at the beginning Maria reduces the bullying children to tears through her kind words, and thus wins them over to her side. It rings false, but it’s clear the writers and director didn’t want to spend too long on this moment.
Mark
10/10
Paul says...
I love The Sound of Music. I love it, I love it, I love it. And that’s really all I have to say on the matter. But I have 500 words to explain why I love it so, so here goes.
As Doug says, this is a film that grows in depth upon repeated viewings as you get older. Children enjoy the songs, the dancing, Maria herself, and the villainous Nazis- and potentially learn some basic history. Adults see the nuances in the love triangle between Maria, the Baroness and the Captain, experience the underlying fear felt by the “good” characters as they bemoan the changes approaching their country, and also start to notice that the Baroness’ best friend, Max, is a flaming homosexual.
But for me, this is a film about childish innocence- and particularly about regaining and maintaining it in the face of personal tragedy and huge social change. The Von Trapp children begin the story in a state of regimented misery, thanks to their widower father who cannot allow them to be joyous for fear that it will remind him too much of his beloved late wife. Enter Maria, who quickly helps the family to gain back that love and mirth that was ostensibly lost. But then- enter Nazis. And suddenly that innocence has to be protected above all costs for fear of losing their souls to a lifestyle built on obedience and suppression.
What is most interesting, and most haunting about the film, is that any references to the Nazis’ actions are made subtly and minutely as if the audience are the children themselves. We see passing comments and knowing looks between the adults; explanations from adults who are deliberately trying to avoid the subject; and, most poignantly, we see the change to young Rolfe who grows from passionate but ambitious youth into Nazi robot, through Liesl’s horrified eyes. In other words, this is a film that shows the natural progression from a state of childish innocence into the adult realisation that the world is not always kind, with Liesl, the only Von Trapp on the cusp of adulthood, bridging the gap between the two. But, the film states, despite this, we must keep our innocence and our sense of wonder, and have a good old romp through the mountains singing 'Do Re Mi', or yell out 'Edelweiss' to a group of uncomfortable Nazi superiors.
This is also coupled with the strong emphasis on Austria’s grandeur, and how it is lost amidst totalitarian shouting. No specific year is given for the film’s setting- it’s simply the “Last Golden Years of the '30s”, a caption that comes after all those famous panoramic shots of the Austrian mountains, immediately reminding us that all of this was nearly lost through the Anschluss.
Other little moments make this film spectacular and enduring. The powerful reprise of 'Edelweiss', the flabbergasting opening number, the wedding that puts Charles and Diana’s to shame, the tense exchanges between the Nazi powers and the Captain, the terrifying escape by the Von Trapps, and the sort of Mother Superior who we all need in our lives, providing life advice and singing operatically.
For me, this is a perfect film, and one which I have to save for twice-yearly viewings to avoid getting sick of it (if that is at all possible!).
Highlight
Like Doug, the reprise of 'Edelweiss' as a final statement of Austrian courage and patriotism in the face of Nazi invaders is a great and tearful moment. It’s similar to the Marseillaise scene in Casablanca.
Lowlight
I suppose “Something Good” would be a song you could easily cut from the film. Slow, dull, and interspersed with superfluous dialogue. But it’s a minor quibble.
Mark
10/10
No comments:
Post a Comment