Cabaret (1972)
Another one reviewed from memory after not seeing it for quite a few years.
In high school I had a lead role in an original musical written by our drama teacher. Despite not being able to sing (when told to sing an octave lower I asked 'what's an octave' and got told to mime - I had no solos so no real problem). It got selected to go to The National Student Drama festival held in scarbourough, which was kinda cool. And whilst there I think one of the things we saw was a production of cabaret. I barely remember it. It left no lasting impression. I was still stubborn in my distaste for musicals (even though I was in one).
But a couple of years later I went to university and saw Bob Fosse's take on the material and fell in love.
Along with Top Hat, seen a week earlier and reviewed yesterday, this really changed my opionion on what film can do.
Top Hat was sort of classically classy. Old school. Cabaret showed me what else musicals could do.
Musicals did not have to make you feel happy. Musicals did not have to be about trite feelings of love.
Musicals could be passionate about politics, reveal life in it's myriad forms and explain to me exactly why Liza Minelli was a thing (and by golly she is good in this in a way she had never equalled since).
Is there a more perfectly pointed scene showing the rise of tyranny than 'Tomorrow Belongs to Me'?
Though explicitly about the fascism created in post war Germany, it's message is timeless. We are never too far away from the creep of abused power and scapegoated minorities.
But the misery is never overpowering, it remains an enjoyable, exquisitely crafted tale with toe tapping numbers and terrific choreography. That's it's strength. And it's lasting legacy.
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