The history of cinema is (also) a history of remake movies, and getting back to a famous theme such as ‘West Side Story‘ is an event, especially since the 2021 version is directed by the famous Steven Spielberg himself, who The 75-year-old is on his first musical attempt. But the new ‘West Side Story‘ is much more than a meeting between Leonard Bernstein’s musical genius and Spielberg‘s cinematic genius. Let’s not forget that the very musical written for Broadway was an adaptation of a book that was also a remake of a masterpiece that belongs to another art. It’s the zillionth take of Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The story is well known. Boy loves Girl. The two belong to two camps that are deadly enemies. They swear eternal love in spite of the enmity of those around them. However, the boy cannot avoid getting involved in the conflict with tragic consequences. In the unequal struggle between love and hate, the chances of the two lovers are zero. The ending being known, the differences consist in the description of the historical and social environments and in the talent with which the actors reproduce the passion of the saddest love story in history. For Spielberg, the term of comparison is not only Shakespeare’s play but also the Broadway staging and the screen adaptation made 60 years ago, both of which enjoyed the endorsement and participation as Bernstein. How does the new film compare to the 1961 screen version? How inovative is the new version? Is the effort of creating a new and expensive production justified?
The last question is probably easy to answer. The remakes of successful movies (or adaptations of famous plays) don’t need much justification. Each generation of filmmakers and viewers deserves their own ‘West Side Story’ or ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Home success is largely guaranteed. What about the artistic success? Spielberg‘s ‘West Side Story’ tries at the same time to be inovative in its approach and extremely respectful of the music, dance and the original text or at least of its intentions. Some scenes are almost quotes – the dance that opens the movie, the balcony scene. However, new situations also show up, and these deserve some attention. Maria, the Puerto Rican Juliet, gets a life story that does not exist in the book or in the original film. She is not a new fresh immigrant, but has been in New York for many years, where she has cared for her elderly and sick father. Tony, the Romeo, also has a modified story, quite debatable in my opinion. His reluctance to engage in violence is determined by the positive influence (indeed!) of time spent behind bars for having committed a violent crime. The positive and interesting extension is that of the character of Valentina, who combines the figure of the Nurse in Shakespeare’s play with a mixed marriage, which could be an example of coexistence. Finally, the West Side of Manhattan is caught on screen as bulldozers take action to demolish the former slum of poor immigrant homes and make way for luxury apartment blocks and the fabulous Lincoln Center.
Not all of these inventions work well on screen. Social and racial tensions did not seem to me to be better highlighted by the updates in the script. The new background story attributed to Tony seemed unbelievable to me, and was not offset by the acting of Ansel Elgort, who was stuck in a single attitude in most of the scenes. Film debutant Rachel Zegler is a conquering, fresh and ingenue Maria. They both sing splendidly. In fact, the musical and the choreographic numbers are the strong points of this edition of Bernstein’s musical. Rita Moreno‘s performance as Valentine is remarkable, much more than a beautiful tribute and a symbol of continuity relative to the 1961 production, in which she played and sang Anita and received a supporting role Academy Award. In the new production, Rita Moreno has a consistent role, she sings excellently and speaks one of the memorable lines from the film – ‘Life is sometimes more important than love’. This ‘West Side Story‘ of our generation is not an ultimate production, it is an unequal film, but with many beautiful moments. Paradoxically, the musical ‘debutant’ director Steven Spielberg succeeds almost perfectly in the musical and dance parts. At least for them I recommend watching.