‘West Side Story’ Review: Steven Spielberg’s Take On The Musical Is Beautiful To Look At. Ariana DeBose Has My Heart!

‘West Side Story’ Review: Steven Spielberg’s Take On The Musical Is Beautiful To Look At. Ariana DeBose Has My Heart!

Can I just begin by saying that I love musicals? And in the last one month, I had the honour of watching two Broadway marquee musicals turned into impressive films. One was Tick, Tick… Boom! starring Andrew Garfield, a meta-biographical musical on the life of Jonathan Larson, directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, on Netflix. And the other was West Side Story, which is a take by Steven Spielberg on the 1957 stage musical by the same name with lyrics by the late Stephen Sondheim, music by Leonard Bernstein and choreography by Jerome Robbins. And that’s the one we’re going to take about today. Spielberg’s West Side Story stars Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler as leads, with Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist, and Rita Moreno, and choreography by Justin Peck.

 

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To explain to those who are not aware, West Side Story is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. But instead of warring families, you have rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, on a turf war for the control a neighbourhood in New York. Riff is the leader of the Jets, while Bernardo is the leader of the Sharks.

Maria is Bernardo’s younger sister, betrothed to the ‘good boy’ Chino who is kept far away from this gang war by Bernardo so he can be a good match for Maria. But fate has other plans when, at a social dance, she meets Tony. Tony Is a Jet, back from prison after spending a year there for nearly beating someone to death. Eyes meet, sparks fly, kisses are exchanged, and there’s tension because dushman ke saath dance kaise? A turf war is ignited as the two lovers fall for each other deeply, but if you’re familiar with the tale, it all ends in blood.

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For my fellow Bollywood buffs who haven’t seen the original West Side Story or heard of it before, this film might feel like a rip-off of Bhansali’s Ram Leela, or even Josh with is Eagle and Bicchoo gangs. And, NGL, the thought of it does amuse me. Because the song and dance in musicals make it closer to a Bollywood film than most other screen adaptations of Shakespeare’s tale of star-crossed lovers.

Those who are aware of the previous adaptations might wonder if we really needed another West Side Story edition, mainly because this one stays completely true to the 1960s one, with no revisions. And that’s a fair point too. Watching two young people fall in love so madly in the course of a day, or watching a girl defend her love for her brother’s killer in a song to her dead brother’s girlfriend is not something that would look anything but ridiculous today. The film adds nothing to the discourse and any criticism on the theme or the story would be wasted at best.

But what West Side Story does offer is a beautiful restoration of the first feature film, painted on with stunning visuals, and the vocals of Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose embellishing the already incredible lyrics of Stephen Sondheim, who unfortunately passed away just days before this film was slated to release. As someone who has loved these songs for years now, this is more of a timely, nostalgia-fuelled gift, through the lens of a master like Steven Spielberg.

West Side Story is a beautiful film to look at, and the choreography is exciting. I love the songs and the Sharks and Jets keep the tempo up. The rumble scene and the social scene were great. What, or rather who, particularly stole my heart is Ariana DeBose; her Anita is an absolute delight to watch move in the first half and a very strong performance in the second. Rachel Zegler is a close second favourite, her Maria is innocent, beautitful but strong minded and zesty and it shows in her sincere, impactful debut performance. Her pain is felt through the screen in the climax.

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And now we come to the controversial elephant in the room. Ansel Elgort and his Tony. With the allegations on the actor fresh in memory, it’s a tad confusing how to feel about him or his performance because we’ve reached a point in our creative discourse where separating art from artist does not come easy anymore. And it shouldn’t.

Especially when the film makes it a point to call out how men turn into monsters and punish women for the actions of the men in their lives.

Verdict

To answer the question on everyone’s mind, Steven Spielberg could make a West Side Story. And so he made it. And because it is him, he made it pretty beautifully. And you can watch it for the music and dance, the surreal period world it is set in, the themes of hatred, racism and the immigrant experience that persist or the pure, intense love that two people felt, which we rarely see today.

But you will have a good time and like me, fall in love with Ariana DeBose, that much is true!

West Side Story released in theatres on December 10, 2021.

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Jinal Bhatt

A Barbie girl with Oppenheimer humour. Sharp-tongue feminist and pop culture nerd with opinions on movies, shows, books, patriarchy, your boyfriend, everything.

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