Do street gang members go to the movies? If so, what will they think of the West Side Story by Steven Spielberg, 60 years after Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise’s iconic ten Oscar-winning film, a story that features their fellow human beings, their brothers? The romance between lovebirds from rival clans in New York, inspired by Romeo and Juliet, by Shakespeare, will seem to them (perhaps as to us) very candid. But they will find there their tensions, their fury. In the hands of young people from the red light districts, a knife, a revolver glistens, blood flows, death takes its foothold. There are The foursome operain this musical tragedy.
And if the film gave young people the desire to dance and sing like the characters, it would already be a way of channeling their ferocious frustrations. One thing is certain, these front-row spectators would grasp that the strength of the two cinematographic productions rests more on the clashes of their urban guerrillas than on the loves of the main tandem in the framework of bait.
We sometimes need the remake of a film to measure the advances and repetitions of our societies. Street gangs are sowing death more than ever, in Montreal as elsewhere, but their stories are not told in the same way. Racial discrimination has itself become a big fight, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. To these currents, the filmmaker of The list by Schindler drink, but the benevolence of his police, we believe less, necessarily …
Once again, this music by Leonard Bernstein and the words of Stephen Sondheim, who died recently, carries us away. Spielberg’s choice to show the destruction of the underprivileged neighborhood in the throes of wild gentrification testifies to our contemporary concerns. Who previously cared about disrupting these lifestyles? A huge cannonball destroys houses in close-up, the facades of the others are marked with large Xs sealing their condemnation. Under such rubble, the new version is more militant than the old one.
On the menu, however, the same story, set in the mid-1950s in West Manhattan, where gangs of two ethnic groups clash violently. Young whites, from Polish communities, Irish, etc., against Puerto Ricans, discriminated against because of dark complexion. Losers among the losers, but in increased resistance.
I had just seen the original film again, keeping fresh in my head its choreography and songs, its masterful shots. Still bewitched by the crazy presence of Rita Moreno as Anita, the Puerto Rican who sang America by twirling with devilish ardor. At Spielberg, this American dream sung in the streets with friends and passers-by seems more unreal after Trump’s reign. But Anita reigns over both productions: a complex female figure, ardent, independent, with a big heart, but with dark areas, royal then damaged, which requires an accomplished singer and dancer. Ariana DeBose takes up this challenge with flying colors.
In 1961, Rita Moreno was the only Puerto Rican performer of the Sharks clan, her peers played by whites with dark skin from waxing. Pure heresy in our contemporary eyes! Excesses of movement wokeshould not hide the important social changes born of its loud cries. For good reason, under the leadership of Spielberg, the roles of Puerto Ricans fall to Latinos communicating in Spanish among themselves, without subtitles. Natalie Wood, a Caucasian star with little credibility in tender Maria under the yoke of her macho brother, succeeds Rachel Zegler in a more lively job. Feminism has been there. Also a sign of the times, Anybodys, this tomboy of the Jets clan is now held by Iris Menas, a non-binary performer. As a result, it was banned in certain countries of the Middle East.
Ironically, it is Rita Moreno (Oscar winner for her Anita of yesteryear) the famous star of this new version. Role created to measure as that of the widow of Doc, bearer of wisdom. We are moved to find it in a taut bridge, even in a service of fragility.
Spielberg’s beautiful, yet classic film, aside from chanting bravery pieces, has less exceptional choreography than the original. Its magnificent camera games seem muted in comparison, as do the denouement and the credits. the West Side Story today sheds light in its rearview mirror on certain breakthroughs in society by veiling less glorious aspects such as police violence. A collective evolution all the more relative as the noise and the fury of street gangs have only worsened. We only dance with one foot.