Movies - #1582 - Cradle Will Rock

A little background: In 1935, as part of Roosevelt's New Deal initiative, a new branch of the WPA was opened called the Federal Theatre Project. The idea was to employ thousands of out of work theatre professionals and to expose the American public to affordable theatre. It was, initially, a success. However, the political tones of many of the projects the FTP produced began to make people in congress uncomfortable. Given the liberal leanings of many of the writers and directors within the FTP, accusations of communism were made, funding was cut, and, ultimately, the project was shut down in 1939.

That is the subject matter for the 1999 film, Cradle Will Rock, directed by actor Tim Robbins.

The film centers primarily on the production of the play of the same name (written by Marc Blitzstein, produced by John Houseman, and directed by Orson Welles). It also deals with the controversy over a politically charged mural that Nelson Rockefeller commissioned communist artist Diego Rivera to paint in the lobby of Rockefeller center, and with the story of an anti-communist vaudevillian who becomes involved in the congressional investigation into the FTP, speaking against most of his peers. The first two stories are true, the third is not.

The film does an interesting job weaving a great number of stories and characters to explore a cohesive central idea: How honest art can be before those in power will no longer accept it. Some within the movie choose to stand up for their art, and invariably lose. Others capitulate, committing what the playwright, Blitzstein (played by Hank Azaria) describes as artistic prostitution.

The one major problem for the movie is the problem any movie of its scope faces. The more themes, plot lines, and characters you try to juggle, the more diluted they tend to become. Many of the characters feel a tad underdeveloped, and it does take effort to keep track of what Orson Welles, Diego Rivera, William Randolph Hearst, that really poor wannabe actress, the Italian guy with all the kids, and the two gay guys who aren't good ventriloquists are all doing, how they all connect to each other, and wait, what did Mussolini have to do with it? However strong that central idea is, there is dense foliage around it.

However, the enormous, very strong cast provides some good performances, and the whole affair has a sort of enthusiastic zeal about it that makes it very enjoyable to watch. Bill Murray is particularly good. That tends to happen, though.

One bit of imagery I particularly like (spoiler alert): When Rivera's mural is destroyed at the end, all that is left of it is a picture of a cell of syphilis. The art is destroyed, all that remains is a disease.

A bit of imagery I'm not so sure about (also spoiler alert): The last shot. As a crowd of performers stage a funeral for the death of the FTP, the camera pans up to reveal the Times Square of 1999. It's nothing but bright lights, colors, advertisements, and inoffensive mindless theatre. Art really has lost, and the wealthy buffoons who think art is just pretty colors (the wealthy industrialist characters in the film pretty much say this) have won. It almost feels like a call to arms. The idea is certainly an important one to the message the movie is trying to convey, but the way it's done feels... I don't know. Heavy handed, maybe?

On a side note, I'm really concerned about the Hank Azaria character. He's talking to his dead wife and Bertolt Brecht (who, while still alive at the time, I don't think could just magically appear). Also pianos just show up out of thin air in front of him at the park. Seriously, i think he might be schizophrenic. Somebody really ought to bring him to a doctor. Am I the only one who's worried about this?

One last thing: the movie plays fast and loose with the timeline. It seems to suggest that the FTP was shut down during the play's opening night. It actually happened two years later.