When You're a Jet

My spouse has discovered an MGM channel, which I think shows mainly classic movies.  Last night when I came out of my Zoom meeting, he was watching Fiddler on the Roof.  At first I thought it was a remake of the classic film of 50 some odd years ago.  But it was the original.  I caught the end, as the family and the community trudge across a bridge to what is next, and the younger family members decide that going to Poland will get them safety.

I thought of the history of the 20th century, how this decision to go to Poland likely means that this branch of the Jewish family will be wiped out.  I watched that column of Jews leaving the village and thought of all the displaced people in our own time, particularly the people of Gaza and the people of Ukraine.  Life feels particularly fragile now, but it's always been fragile, safety an illusion.

I confess to feeling that the ending was rushed--everyone must leave the village, there's a bit of discussion after dismay, and then everyone packs.  I was startled when the credits started to roll.

And up next, West Side Story, the original film, not the remake.  It, too, felt like a remake, a highly stylized one.  It's an interesting concept, a rumble, but with choreographed dancing.   I half expected the expert dancers of my youth, John Travolta and Patrick Swayze to make an appearance.

Long ago, I watched this film with my mom, and then she pulled out the LP of the soundtrack.  We often would watch a movie together and then spend days enjoying the soundtrack together.  A few years later, on a Sunday afternoon, we'd watch A Star Is Born, the Streisand-Kristofferson version, and she had the album, which we enjoyed together, even though much of the music wasn't to either of our tastes at the time.  

I realize I'm lucky to have grown up in a house with all sorts of music.  My dad loved folk music and jazz, and my mom decided that my dad was worth her time because he could intelligently talk about classical compositions, specifically Handel's Water Music.  We had music lessons and choir, and we made all sorts of music, both as individuals and as a family and as larger groups we belonged to.

I thought of this early training during West Side Story, as one of the Jets sings, "When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way, from your first cigarette to your last dying day."  I am grateful to have had this early musical training and grateful for good movies which still bind us together.