This year I finally got around to watching The Sound of Music. Its one of those films that you’re supposed to have watched many times in your youth, however, in my case I hadn’t. I knew enough of the songs to get through any conversation about it and relegated it low down my watchlist, thinking I would get to it eventually.
For more reasons than one, it is now one of my favourite musicals. There is an endless amount to talk about regarding the film’s beautiful cinematography, epic set design, and high production value musical pieces. Songs like Climb Ev’ry Mountain and Do Re Mi, are so embedded in our collective consciousness that most people can cite them regardless of whether or not they’ve heard of the Von Trapp’s or even seen Robert Wise’s film.
There is some controversy surrounding the large amounts of creative license employed by the filmmakers, for example Georg von Trapp’s strictness was over exaggerated while Marie’s was under exaggerated. Another notable example is the family’s difficult financial situation that persuaded them to become singers in the first place is entirely erased from the film’s plot.
Most critics like to point at their dramatic escape from Austria, which was actually carried out through their local train station and not a last minute chase for their lives as depicted in the film.
I find this criticism rather disingenuous though, as the highly principled Georg Von Trapp had twice snubbed the Nazi regime, once when he refused the position within the Kriegsmarine, and again when he refused the request to perform at Hitler’s Birthday. He had twice made his views of the Nazis clear and was very aware that it was only a matter of time before they would be outed as enemies of the regime.
I tend to find myself believing that the fictionalised retelling of the events, while technically inaccurate, tell a greater truth. More importantly, the scenes make for the musical’s greatest moment, a scene I have revisited countless times since and have never been less moved by.
Less than two minutes carries on its shoulder’s nearly all the power of The Sound of Music!
Christopher Plummer does so much in this scene, seemingly the least enthusiastic about music throughout the film, he sees it simply as something to bond with his children over, but has no interest in performing or letting his children do so. Yet while his voice is not powerful as Julie Andrew’s nor is it as enthusiastic as the children’s, he carries so much weight in the scene.
In one song he tells the story of a man who has too much on his shoulders, he is faced with the impossible task of delivering his family to safety against a heavily manned and heavily armed enemy, in the hours leading up to this moment he has been confronted, trapped and has had to perform in a concert all the while figuring out how he is going to get out of this one and in his first real display of vulnerability throughout the film, it is clear that this has all gotten too much for him.
But it’s not just that. Georg von Trapp is a patriot who loves his country, so much so that he fought for it in the First World War, he had been married and fathered his children there, and he had resisted and resented its invasion by an evil regime. He is a man who has had to watch the end of his country as he knows it and he is terrified of what it may become.
As is the case for most strong men, he is saved by his wife. Marie & the family join him in the song and keeps the performance going. However, his gesture to the audience to join the song serves a far greater purpose…It makes the Nazis deeply uncomfortable. It sends a message that they are still themselves and their identity will not be taken away from them.
It doesn’t constitute an act of rebellion, at least not enough for the authorities to do anything about it in that moment. But it is nonetheless a very strong act of rebellion and one that carries an endless amount of weight to the audience.
It’s a powerful scene carried by a very commanding actor, its why The Sound of Music will now always be an essential viewing.
T H E N A I V E F I L M M A K E R 