The 1961 film adaptation of the iconic stage musical, featuring music by the legend Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by another legend Stephen Sondheim, famously won 10 Oscars, including Best Picture, and is widely respected as a beloved classic.
Even though watching it in 2021 certainly comes with a noticeable amount of dated elements - from the style of most of the performances to the obvious brown-face that will fill you with second-hand embarrassment, it’s still an undeniably impressive achievement, and a timeless piece of what classic Hollywood musicals used to be.
So why go for it again? Why remake a Best Picture winner that sits comfortably in the middle of AFI's list of 100 greatest films of all time? Does this re-adaptation really need to exist? And the answer… is yes.
Spielberg pulls off the seemingly impossible: his “West Side Story” stands on its own, side by side with the original adaptation, and in some ways actually improves on it. For Spielberg, it was his dream project, and a story he feels needs to be retold, with a simple message that will always be relevant.
Story
Set in the 1950s, the story of star-crossed lovers from different sides of New York’s feuding street gangs, of course, draws its inspiration from an even older classic: Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. Both the play and the musical grapple with themes of love and hatred, duty to family and community, defiance and violence, as Tony and Maria, just like their Shakespearean counterparts, fall in love and dare to dream of happiness and peace.
The new film is a vibrant, beautiful, cinematic spectacle, full of life and oozing personality, and it finds just the right balance between theatricality and realism. It feels like a classic musical in the best way, it respects the Broadway original, but Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner fine-tune the details, gently rebuilding the musical, restructuring it to really bring out its dimensions for new audiences that may not be too familiar with the older film, as well as for long-time fans.
Through these subtle changes, there is a level of nuance and complexity added to the film's characters and relationships that really works. There are strong, effective choices made as far as moving musical numbers around, changing up the locations of where they happen and how, or even who is singing, and none of this feels like changes just for the sake of changing something up - there is a reason behind all of it.
There are interesting dialogue choices that underline the conflicts, and the cycle of resentment and anger that needs to be broken, how it hurts everyone and benefits no one within the community. Another interesting choice is including a good amount of dialogue in Spanish, which is obviously appropriate for the story, and not providing English subtitles.
While this might occasionally feel a bit disorienting to someone like me who wants to catch every bit of dialogue, but doesn’t speak Spanish, this approach makes perfect sense and emphasizes certain elements of the narrative.
David Alvarez is also very good as the fiery but caring fighter Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. Rita Moreno returns in a very different, but still significant role, playing Valentina - Doc’s widow who runs the drugstore and is a very warm, motherly figure. And finally, our leads this time around are Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort.
Zegler is a newcomer to the big screen, but she plays a wonderful Maria - young, free-spirited, romantic, and emotional. You cannot take your eyes off her, and her joy is contagious. Elgort, on the other hand, is easily the weakest part of the cast, and the biggest issue this film has because he simply doesn’t fit this particular role.
Next to an extremely charismatic cast, I just don’t buy him as a young man who is supposedly so magnetic Maria would fall instantly in love with him. The film tells us he is dangerous, he started the Jets, he almost killed someone, he spent a year in prison, and none of this is plausible when you look at Elgort’s performance and personality. He sings and dances well, yes, and there are a couple of scenes where his persona works, but there are plenty of others in which he sucks the energy right out of the film.
Even the chemistry between Tony and Maria seems to largely lie on the shoulders of Zegler, which eventually makes the already questionable scene where she forgives him after a tragedy seem even less plausible.
As much as I have appreciated his other performances in the past, I just don’t think this is his role, and unfortunately that is a big problem as he is one of the leads. But, rest assured, this isn’t something that ruins the film because there is just so much to love about it, and when it’s good - it’s actually pretty great.
It’s a modern take on a classic musical that respects the traditions of the genre, as well as carefully and effectively updates it. You may encounter a couple of instances of heavy-handedness, but Spielberg’s direction fully makes up for that and makes them work, as it’s incredibly strong and cinematically magical, making “West Side Story” one of his best films of the past two decades.
To be honest, the more I think about this version of “West Side Story”, the more I love it and the more I want to see it again. Does it surpass the 1961 adaptation? It just might, but even if you disagree, the fact that this is a question actually worth considering is already impressive.
Is it on its way to multiple Oscar wins down the road? I think this is a very strong possibility, and it’s going to be very interesting to see how this plays out in a few months. But for now, if you’re wondering whether or not “West Side Story” is worth a trip to the theatre - my answer is a confident “yes”. Seeing it on the big screen, with great sound is a breathtaking experience, and one that’s definitely going to stay with you.
The striking lighting, the memorable, reasonably gritty, less romanticized setting, the cinematography, the unforgettable performances, the beautifully done musical numbers, the universal message about the need to choose love over hate, as well as every ounce of joy and passion Spielberg poured into this film truly breathe new life into the musical and make “West Side Story” one of the biggest standouts of 2021.
But what about you? Have you seen it?
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