"West Side Story" (film)

I just watched "West Side Story" again for the first time in years.

I remember the time before I started studying Shakespeare, when I thought "Romeo & Juliet" was stupid. I also didn't like "West Side Story" the first time I saw it, thinking it was based on a story that didn't deserve to be told again. Here we have two teenagers, stupid enough to fall in love overnight, then spend the rest of the play risking their lives and causing troubles for a whole lot of others until they, at last, they die. But of course, I was young then, and dumb.

What makes the Shakespeare play works isn't much different from what makes the musical works. Shakespeare's flowery language makes the story believable. Sure, anybody who has actually been in love knows that it ain't that easy, but you are taken into the realm of fiction, wherein his words make the love seem real. They peer through to our heart and remind us what it feels like to love. Maybe this love is romantic and not realistic, but we all know how it feels, don't we?

As I watched the musical, the lovers were getting on my nerve a little bit. I didn't like how quickly Tony and Maria became so emotionally involved with each other. The film expands over about two days, and already there were talks of love and marriage? Get real! However, my annoyance went away as soon as they started singing. Just as Shakespeare's language makes the love story come alive, the music by Leonard Bernstein and the words by Stephen Sondheim do the same for the musical. During the balcony scene, for example, the lovers sing a song called "Tonight, Tonight," whose lyrics carefully focus on the feelings of the characters on that particular moment, how the world has changed, and how their meeting had marked the beginning of a new life for both of them. If they were saying those lines I would probably continue to be annoyed, but in songs I can believe just about anything. There are some stories that work on stage and not on screen; I think the theater has more power to convince the audience of unbelievable things than films do, and most film audiences expect things to be more believable, unless they pay to see a sci-fi or a fantasy. Fortunately this film is a musical, and it has some of the best songs ever written, which made me sympathize with Tony and Maria.

The cinematography is brilliant; it is what makes the film not just one of the best movie musicals but one of the best films ever made. The choreographies are some of the most outstanding I have ever seen. The only thing that I thought should have been better is the singing; most of the singing was dubbed by other singers, and I just don't think they do that good of a job. I was particularly dissatisfied by Tony's singing. But that isn't a major issue.

I found myself crying several times, all during songs. I don't think the same story can be updated to modern time unless it uses Shakespeare's text or unless it's a musical. That's why musical is a necessary genre; it doesn't only entertain but it can tell a different kind of story that non-musicals cannot.