Fiddler on the roof - 1971

Well, one of the grandest musicals no doubt. Great. Good actors, good music, great singing, although the Chava business made me angry: saying “my daughter is dead to me” only because she married a guy who’s not jewish.. it seems so heartless, he was a good guy and she was a loving daughter who simply fell in love, she didn’t deserve such treatment :-/

That aside, it was a good movie. Very very long, but good.

It starts showing a fiddler playing is music on a roof, and our protagonist Tevye (Topol, really good) explains to us that we are all like fiddlers on a roof, trying to find our balance. He says that in their village called Anatevka they find it thanks to their traditions, and the “tradition” song starts, explaining how they do things: the papa is the master of the house and works for the money, the mama runs the home and works to keep it going, the children go to hebrew school and at the age of ten they learn a trade. Papas pick the husband or wife for their children, the sons hope she’ll be pretty, the girls are brought up to be good wives. “without traditions our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof”.

An old woman, Yente (Molly Picon), is the matchmaker of the village. Tevye and his wife Golde (Norma Crane) have five daughters, and Yente is looking for a husband for her eldest, Tzeitel (Rosalind Harris). Yente says “you shouldn’t be so picky, even the worst husband is better than no husband”. Yente is the classic old woman of whom you can find so many in the world, the ones always complaining and saying that they never complain, always talking and saying that she is a widow all alone with nobody to talk to… - she tells Golde that the butcher likes Tzeitel. The butcher Lazar Wolf (Paul Mann) is very well off, but also probably older than her father…

Tzeitel is in love with Motel (Leonard Frey), her friend since childhood, a poor tailor. Her two younger sisters, Hodel (Michele Marsh) and Chava (Neva Small) want her to get married so it’ll be their turn next, and they sing beautifully “matchmaker find me a perfect match”; Tzeitel makes them understand that “with no dowry, no money” they should stop dreaming they’d be matched with the prince of their dreams, and they keep singing how terrified they are. 

Tevye is a poor milkman, and sings “if I were a rich man” in one of his talks to God. 

There’s news around that in another village the jewish people have been evicted, sent away, but they don’t worry about it, they stick to their lives in Anatevka and don’t mind much with the outside world. Tevye meets Perchik (Michael Glaser - I knew I knew that face, Paul Michael Glaser:Starsky!). He’s a student from Kiev with revolutionary ideas about how people, ordinary people, will change not only Russia but the world. He teaches for a living, and Tevye promises him “food for lessons” and introduces him to the family. 

Tzeitel worries about Yente’s relentless matchmaking, telling Motel that if she finds a match it’ll be over for them, and asks him to talk to her father at once, but he doesn’t, he’s too scared of the big, yelling man, and she shakes her head… poor Tzeitel, we all feel for her at that moment.

They sing the Sabbath prayers, then Golde send Tevye to talk to Lazar Wolf. He has a rich home, says that he’s been a widower a long time and feels lonely and he likes Tzeitel, and asks him her hand, and Tevye agrees.

They celebrate drinking and dancing, and they also dance with some people, that at that point I wasn’t sure who they were, they seemed also Russians but many were without hats and beards, and I now guess they were not jewish. 

At home Tevye breaks the ‘good news’ to Tzeitel, but she isn’t happy. She says she doesn’t want to marry him; he says “if I say you will, you will” and “we made an agreement”; she says “is that more important than me papa?” and begs him on her knees. Motel comes running to ask him her hand. Teyve says “Are you crazy?” and adds that it’s very unusual to make a match for oneself, and sings “you gave each other a pledge” and “tradition, marriage should be arranged by the papa”. Motel insists and Tevye thinks about it in one of those funny scenes when he speaks to God and they are suddenly far away from him (because they don’t hear these reasoning), and then he says yes. Motel”you won’t be sorry” - Tevye”I’m sorry already” :-p

Tzeitel is very happy, Motel sings “wonder of wonders”.

There are four boys on the road bothering Chava when Fyedka (Ray Lovelock) tells them to stop. He then talks to her, introduces himself, and asks her if she doesn’t want to talk to him “because I’m not Jewish?” but then they have a love for books in common, and he lends her a book so that later they might talk about it…

To make Golde accept the idea of Motel and Tzeitel, Tevye tells her he had a terrible dream: she says “tell me your dream and I’ll tell you what it means” and there’s the piece with the dead people singing how grandma wants her to marry Motel and how Lazar Wolf’s dead wife will kill Tzeitel if she marries him. 

Tzeitel marries her Motel, and it’s a lovely wedding while a lovely song where basically they sing their thoughts: “I don’t remember growing older, when did they?” and “wasn’t it yesterday when they were small?” and “what words of wisdom can I give them, how can I help to ease their way?” and “now they must learn from one another” plus other thoughts from Perchik and Hodel looking at each other…

Then there’s a funny piece of dancing, and then Lazar Wolf and Tevye fight over “we had an agreement” then Perchik stops them with his usual words about the world changing and he dances with Hodel - which is considered highly unusual, men dancing with women, a sin! But the rabbi says it’s not exactly forbidden, so Tevye dances with his wife and Motel with his, and then Hodel and Chava dance with the rabbi, and they are all having a great time, until the Constable (Louis Zorich) and his men come (sent by that superior of his who called them “Christ-killers”=men will never stop finding excuse to fight, will they? :-/ )

They break everything until the Constable orders them to stop, telling Tevye that “orders are  orders” because he didn’t want to but he has to, but the men keep breaking stuff in all the village (well, only at the jewish side of it).

Time passes, Tevye tells us how Motel and Tzeitel are very poor and work very hard, but are also very happy, “they’re so happy they don’t know how miserable they are” :-)

Perchik tells Hodel that he intends going to Kiev to join others (in the revolution I guess) but also asks her to marry him, in a rather strange but somehow sweet way, and she happily says yes. Tevye meets them while they’re holding hands, and they tell him that they are engaged. Tevye says no because Perchik’s going away, but they tell him that “we’re not asking for your permission, only your blessings”, because they want to get married anyway. He sings “what do you want from me?” and thinks about it in one of his conversations with God, thinking that “our old ways were once new”… and so he gives them his blessings :-) when he tells his wife she’s angry at first, but then he points out “Hodel loves him, what can we do? It’s a new world”. Tevye and Golde met for the first time when the got married, and now Tevye asks her “do you love me?” - “you’re a fool” - “I know, but do you love me?” and I love this scene, I think it’s really beautiful, because neither of them has ever thought this kind of things, so she actually thinks about it “do I love him?” and finds her answer “I suppose I do” - “and I suppose I love you too” :-) “it doesn’t change a thing but after 25 years it’s nice to know…”

Perchik makes speeches: “we are the People, we are Russia” then the soldiers come riding, charging with swords. When Hodel receives a letter from him we learn that he was arrested and convicted, and she makes up her mind she wants to be where he is, so she leaves home to go there and work and wait for him. It’s a nice scene when she sings to explain to her father why she has to go, and it’s really beautiful the way he looks at her.

Motel finally got the sewing machine he always talked about, a revolution in the tailoring business for sure, he can work faster and better with it.

They already have a baby :-)

Chava wants to marry Fyedka, but he’s “a different kind” and “some things do not change”, and no matter how much she begs him Tevye tells her “are you out of your mind? Don’t you understand what that means, marrying outside of the faith?” and “never mention his name again, never see him again”… but she’s in love. She runs away from home, Golde looks everywhere for her, she even enters a church to talk to the priest, and he tells her that they got married! When Golde tells this to Tevye he says “Chava is dead to us, we’ll forget her” …. what?!?!?

He sings “little bird” thinking of her, but when she comes to him he goes away; she begs him to accept them, and he thinks about it in another one of his conversations with God that always turned in favours of his daughters, but not this time. “can I deny everything I believe in?” I say no, of course. “can I deny my own daughter?” an even bigger no, of course. I can’t understand why he has to choose one over the other, why can’t he keep his faith but still love his daughter? Nobody pretends he should agree with her choice, only that he keeps loving her, as a father should.

He makes his choice, tells her no and leaves, even tells the Constable “my daughter is dead” :-/

The Constable comes to the village to tell Tevye that he has orders, that all the jews have to leave Anatevka, not only that but all the surrounding villages as well. All of them have three days to sell their house if they can and leave. Of course they are angry, and many of them talk about staying and fighting, but the rabbi is a wise old man and says “let’s start packing”.

Lazar Wolf goes to Chicago where the brother of his late wife lives; Tevye goes to New York (I think he has a brother there). Chava comes to say goodbye, she leaves too, with Fyedka of course - they are not forced to but say they don’t want to leave in such a place where people do such things.

Tzeitel hugs her sister, but her father doesn’t look at her or talk to her. When Chava goes away Tzeitel shouts a last goodbye and Tevye mutters a “God be with you” that Tzeitel is happy to shout: I suppose in a way that’s a big step for him that means he’s not cutting her totally out of their lives. Chava says she’ll write to them and Tzeitel says they’ll be staying at uncle Avram’s. They all leave and the fiddler follows Tevye… this in undoubtably a moment of great uncertainty in Tevye’s life, but they will all keep going, stick together and find a new life elsewhere. 

the end.

ITA il violinista sul tetto