West Side Story 4K 1961

The plot is beautiful and rich, but after watching it, all that remains are emotions.
Delight and an incredible sense of longing… though there’s not much more to say about it—you have to feel it for yourself.

But there’s a lot to say about the world of the musical. It wasn’t so much the plot itself—which everyone is probably familiar with, since Romeo and Juliet have long been household names—as the world into which the tragedy is set that really caught my attention.

Street gangs fight for the right to claim THEIR street, immigrants battle for a place under the American sun, and everyone dances together on the dance floor. The slums of 1960s New York captivate with the unreality—or even the absurdity—of what’s happening, yet at the same time they seem surprisingly vivid and genuine, largely thanks to the authenticity of the characters’ emotions. The way the musical manages to convey this is beyond praise.

I was also particularly captivated by the immigrants’ dormitory. It is their home in this new land, their stronghold. No fewer than fifty people live there, and they are all one family. They live in their close-knit community, occasionally interacting with the hostile outside world, and dance on the roof at night. They can always trust one another. This home is definitely a cozy place. And it was precisely this sense of comfort and trust that Bernardo was so afraid of losing. He feared that his people would lose their identity in this country and cease to be a family. And as it turned out, his fears were well-founded.

So what’s the issue? The issue is a girl. Here, by the way, it’s worth noting the huge difference between the Western perception of love and ours. Just how different Juliet is from Tanya Larina. While the former sacrifices her family for love, the latter—on the contrary—is ready to sacrifice her feelings for the sake of duty. Maria cannot openly love Anton, but she is also unable to resist her feelings. Secrets and gossip arise, and it all ends in murder. Alas, it couldn’t have turned out any other way, because if she had gotten the better of herself and managed to break up with Anton for the sake of her family, we would have cried even harder.

But why did she have to get involved in a street brawl with her “female logic”? They could have just fought, given each other a few bruises, and gone their separate ways. No. Not only did Tony talk them into a one-on-one fight—which ended up with them holding knives—but he also let a woman lead him on in this matter and started trying to break up the fight. I totally agreed with the guy who said it would’ve been better if none of this had happened.

Yes, Tony made a mistake by doing that, but then again, that’s what makes him so real. Only the characters in bad books never make mistakes. And this is a beautiful and sad story about love that is stronger than death. Love, in the true sense. Although it isn’t portrayed here as it is in an old-fashioned tragedy, it is certainly stronger than common sense. It is precisely the fact that lovers are capable of foolishness and recklessness for the sake of their love that has always drawn attention to them.

Finally, the technical aspects deserve mention. The choreography is so impressive that it simply cannot be put into words—only conveyed through movement. While watching most of the dance scenes, it’s impossible to sit still—they’re that electrifying and energetic. The fight scenes are staged to look far more dangerous than the real thing. The finger-snapping will forever remain one of the most beautiful musical devices. And certain scenes—such as Anton beneath Maria’s balcony, the imaginary wedding, or Tony crying to the wail of sirens—are all true masterpieces of directing; there’s no other way to describe them.

An immortal classic, successfully transported into a beautiful and skillfully crafted world that feels much closer and more relatable to us than ancient Verona—that’s what this musical is all about.