Steven Spielberg’s Epic Adaptation Of ‘West Side Story’

REVIEWED BY RENEE DALLOW

Spielberg’s epic film brings together a wonderful ensemble cast who sing, dance and act up a storm. Opening with an aerial shot, eventually settling on a slum area reduced to rubble, with reckingball in plain view, we meet the Jets. Immediately aware of simmering tensions when a Jet throws paint on a mural of the Peurto Rican flag, we are drawn into the racial divisions between Jets and Sharks.

Spielberg’s version does differ in many ways from the original, in that he has moved scenes around. Some of the flow is lost and at times the film loses some of it’s original impact. Particularly in the perfomance of the Cool number which comes before the big fight and not after. The scene becomes a tussle between Tony and Riff over a gun rather than an outpouring of grief, fear and anger from members of the Jets who have just lost their leader. In another scene, Valentina, played by Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the original, sings, Somewhere, which has always been Maria’s song of love, loss and yearning as Tony is dying in her arms. Maybe this contributes to the reason the passion between Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zeglar) does not really carry  through, although individually, the performances of these two actors are flawless.

The real tragedy in this version is the death of Bernardo (David Alvarez) and the great sacrifice made by Anita (Ariana Debose) when she seeks help from the Jets to save Tony. These two actors have the chemistry lacking in Elgort and Zeglar.

Visually though, Spielberg’s West Side Story is a masterpiece. Justin Peck’s choreography, while less edgy than that of Jerome Robbins, is equally as mesmerising. Bernstein’s score and Sondheim’s lyrics  still resonate with the same power, relevance and pure genius as when the original was first released.

★★★★

West Side Story opens in cinemas on Boxing Day