Shocking!

If you recall, in my World Religions class we have to watch a movie every week that depicts a certain aspect of the Religion we’re studying. Last week was 1971′s Fiddler on the Roof (yes, i’ve been trying to write this post for a week… work has been insane). Let’s count the things this movie immediately has working against it before I even popped it in the old DVD player: it is a nearly 40 year old (1) adaptation of a stage-play musical (2) about a Jewish community (3) and their struggles with the changing times in pre-revolutionary Russia (4) that clocks in just under three hours (5, 6, and 7; one for each hour).

The opening monologue by Tevye (pictured above) was well written, but I had too many doubts to give it any credit… then they sang the first bar of the theme song (Tradition) and me, my wife, and daughter all looked at each other like “what the heck was that??” Even my ten year old recognized that we were in for a long night! After the “set up” scene (a prologue if you will) the credits rolled in typical 1960/70s fashion… all at once… with no story related action taking place…  just a silhouette of a fiddler on a roof … playing his song… for about 10 minutes it seemed… _sigh_… seriously?

Then we got to hear the whole “Tradition” song, and while I still wasn’t sure what to expect, i noticed some very clever and successful attempts at humor, but mostly we laughed at how ridiculous the song itself sounded. The song ended, Teyve said a couple of other things, followed by the first full on comedic scene of the movie… and it dawned on me… We were watching in the wrong frame of mind… this was a Comedy Drama.

What followed was three hours of some of the most brilliant writing I have ever experienced. Three hours flew by. Most of the songs were great (some famous songs include “Matchmaker” (genius song) and “Do You Love Me”); the comedic elements were classic and well placed; the story was fantastic and the character development was top notch.  As I thought through the movie over the next couple of days, I can honestly say from a personal favorites stand point –and it blows my mind to say this– Fiddler cracked my top five:

1) Gladiator
2) Shawshank Redemption
3) Fight Club
4) Fiddler on the Roof
5) Bourne Movies (we’ll group them)

I laugh just thinking about some of the scenes… That is what comedy is supposed to be… not this slap-stick / stupid crap we put out these days. The best lines come from Tevye, the father figure and central character, who often “quotes” the good book. Most of his quotes are suspect at best and flat out wrong at worst. But there are plenty of likable characters and good lines to go around. I can’t promise every guy will like it. Some guys are too tough to sit through a musical no matter how brilliant the writing… But man, what a shocker… find three hours to spare and test me on this… it’s worth it (and someone buy it for me on DVD since it was just a rental).

oh, and remember…

As the good book says, if you spit in the air, it lands in your face.