West Side Story – fit of rage

1. West Side Story is a 2021 English movie directed by Steven Spielberg that talks about the fight over territory between Americans and Puerto Ricans.
2. In New York City, the American group of Jets led by Riff (Mike Faist) and the Puerto Rican group of Sharks led by Bernardo (David Alvarez) are in a long tussle over the territory ownership. The two groups later meet at a dance battle where Riff’s close friend Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Bernardo’s sister Maria (Rachel Zegler) fall in love. This angers Bernardo, so Tony invites him to a rumble the next day to solve the fight over the territory once and for all. Maria asks Tony to stop the rumble. Tony goes to the rumble to stop it but in a fit of rage kills Bernardo after Bernardo kills Riff. Now Bernardo’s friend Chino who also loves Maria is looking to kill Tony. Maria comes to know about the killings but she is not ready to lose Tony as well so they decide to run away. Bernardo’s girlfriend Anita (Ariana DeBose) on Maria’s request goes to Tony to inform him about Chino. But the Jets try to sexually assault her while Tony was away. Anita in a fit of rage lies about Chino killing Maria. Tony hears this and wanders in the streets pleading with Chino to kill him too. Suddenly Maria arrives and Tony runs towards her but he is suddenly shot by Chino. Maria takes the gun and pleads with the Jets and Sharks to stop this fight once and for all.
3. This musical movie is very delightful to the eyes and ears and the direction by Spielberg is just remarkable as always. The cinema set also requires a special mention without which the movie would be just good to the ears.
4. The acting by most of the cast was good but some co-actors seemed to be nervous or not in sync with the musical acting. Acting and singing are not everyone’s cup of tea and it requires an extra effort to sync your lips and your facial expressions.
5. Too much music also doesn’t look good. Some scenes looked very funny when music was inserted into them. I found the song ‘America’ the best because its lyrics had some deep meaning and reality.
6. America is the land of dreams and many ethnicities who live there have arrived from different parts of the world. The USA would not have been the superpower without the direct and indirect contributions of many non-Americans.
7. War leads to nothing but more war. Diplomatic talks are the ones that smart and practical people do while war through violence are the ones that cowards do. Non-violence has comparatively fewer casualties as compared to violence.
8. Along with music, the dance also needs a special mention. It did seem awkward when the actors used to dance for anything, while walking in the streets or even when they were fighting. But the dance battle was something very pleasing to watch.
9. A critically acclaimed movie that was a box-office bomb.
10. A one-time watch and I say it’s OKAY.