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Directed by Tim Robbins
Starring Hank Azaria, Emily Watson, Joan Cusack, John Cusack, John Turturro, Angus MacFadyen, Cary Elwes, Cherry Jones, Susan Sarandon, Ruben Blades, Vanessa Redgrave, Philip Baker Hall, Bill Murray
USA, 1999
Rated R (nudity, language, mature themes)
CLUMSILY SUBLIME CELEBRATION
A lively tribute to the realm of the arts is hardly a rare thing in movies, but a film as spirited as Tim Robbins’ latest feature, Cradle Will Rock, is almost irresistible. His utterly moving Dead Man Walking was powerful, provocative material, and so is Cradle Will Rock, but this new offering is absolutely delightful (once you get past some of the film’s messy political and social underpinnings) and its atmosphere is not so much pungent with an air of condemnation as it is with an eagerness to uphold artistic expression as a means of survival and rebellion.
The film is a bouncy tapestry of characters who represent America’s extreme social classes during the 1930’s Great Depression. The first sequence is a superbly arranged intersection of artists- first following a homeless, aspiring singer named Olive Stanton (Emily Watson) as she is kicked out of a local movie house, then turning to nearby musicians, comedians, and actors wandering the streets or in their apartments toiling over their work. Robbins and his cinematographer, Jean-Yves Escoffier, use fluid, airy angles and movements that make Cradle Will Rock a wonderfully, though, at times, misleadingly, leisurely experience.
We soon come across such characters as writer Marc Blitzstein (Hank Azaria), who, when writing, seems to be possessed by spirits that include his dead wife who influence a musical he is writing; Hallie Flanagan (Cherry Jones), the smart and vivacious head of the Federal Theater; an Anti-Communist worker holding secret meetings (Joan Cusack); and a ventriloquist, Tommy Crickshaw (Bill Murray), whose only means of true communication are with his dummy. Hanging on the more elite reaches of this pole are an obnoxious and young Orson Welles (Angus MacFadyen); Nelson Rockerfeller (John Cusack); Mexican artist Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades); steel magnate Gray Mathers (Philip Baker Hall); his somewhat disillusioned but altogether lively wife, the Countess (Vanessa Redgrave); and Mussolini’s mistress, Margherita Sarfatti (Susan Sarandon).
These characters’ lives don’t always intersect in friendly ways; often they are a wildly political group feuding. Blitzstein finishes writing his musical, "The Cradle Will Rock," which is picked up by the Federal Theater to be directed by the rowdy, pre-Citizen Kane Orson Welles, only to be canceled on opening night due to suspicions of controversial material. Hallie Flanagan argues with the Dies Committee who threaten to cut financial support to the Federal Theater because of alleged left-wing influences. Olive Stanton becomes a stage hand, then wins the lead role of a prostitute in "The Cradle Will Rock." Nelson Rockerfeller hires Diego Rivera to paint a mural for Rockerfeller Center; Rivera paints a picture in which molecules of bubonic plague hover over the wealthy, and Lenin’s face appears. Margherita Sarfatti seduces American elite with da Vinci masterpieces to gain funding for Mussolini’s political agenda. Gray Mathers flirts with Sarfatti and the Countess frolics in rebellion like a little girl as she sees a version of "Macbeth" performed by blacks and helps the desperate cast and crew of "The Cradle Will Rock."
Tim Robbins’ film never stays put for long. Cradle Will Rock jumps all over the place, its fault lying in its inability to form full-bodied characters in its relatively short running time. Those who are unfamiliar with the film’s setting, political and social America in the 1930’s, as I was, may be a tad lost during some of Cradle Will Rock. The film’s star-packed cast salvages meagerly written characters from drabness by turning in one great performance after the other. Emily Watson receives more screen time than any other actor, and she delivers a sensitive, meritorious performance. John Turturro is great to watch as an actor in "The Cradle Will Rock" who has turned his back on his Italian family’s Fascism. John Cusack and Angus MacFadyen play their roles with a good bit of hilarious indulgence, highlighting their characters’ power and naïveté. Most interesting are Susan Sarandon dawning a delectable accent, Joan Cusack with her captivating, elastic face that seems able to evoke any emotion with a special brand of wackiness and poignancy, Vanessa Redgrave playing a wonderfully silly and funny character, and Hank Azaria, whose Blitzstein is filmed as living in an artistic dream world.
The film itself does not lodge completely in one’s memory. It is more the atmosphere of the thing that stays with you. Robbins’ style here may be seen as Altmanesque, but I find he borrows a lot from Woody Allen. His comedy is hardly as overtly silly or brazen, but his visual scheme is similar to that of earlier Allen films; Robbins’ movie is like a combination of the visual styles of Radio Days and Bullets Over Broadway.
Cradle Will Rock is a celebratory film that chronicles the time’s hectic political agendas, class differences, and the madcap ways of the people. But the movie does not take a political stance so much as an artistic one. The film is about prostitution within the classes, and artistic prostitution, heavy-handed stuff that is executed by Robbins with a flare for ease and comedy. Everyone here is affected by ugly left-wing-right-wing politics. Diego Rivera’s mural is an extreme depiction of social corruption and Communism and is eventually hammered to its destruction by order of Nelson Rockerfeller, who prides himself in being an open-minded art-lover but yearns for politic-free, Picassoesque fodder. The actors of "The Cradle Will Rock" are ordered not to act in the musical, but participate offstage for an excited audience in a rousing finale.
The film’s final shot presents a parallel between yesteryear’s stifling of artistic freedom and today’s similar state. Over the decades, art has changed but the struggle between artists and the-powers-that-be has not. "The Cradle Will Rock" defines artistic defiance in the 1930’s, just as films rebelled against the Hays Code and censorship in the 1950’s and 60’s, and artists today struggle with groups that desire to oppress certain works. Diego Rivera asks Margherita Sarfatti that if he is paid by Rockerfeller to create a mural, is he his slave? Sarfatti replies "yes." Such exchanges reflect artistic prostitution today- musicians are made slaves by their record companies; studio execs take advantage of filmmakers and actors. Blitzstein’s musical is very dated due to its complete immersion in the politics of its day, which makes Robbins’ film not always palatable with today’s audience. The film, though, praises confused but powerful union and revolution, art against oppressive elitists, and the moral priorities of man. One could argue all day about the implausibility of Cradle Will Rock’s treatment of its rebellious themes, but I argue that the film is fresh and relevant. It looks upon art as one of the great, God-sent means of expression, rebellion, connection, and communication. Cradle Will Rock makes fun of those who fear art that stirs up debate or skirts around topics that are not agreeable to them. The film takes a while to find its focus, and, even after it figures out what it’s trying to say, there are holes everywhere. Regardless, it is filled with charge and humor, recognizing art affected by our times and our emotions and the power it has to lift, move, and soar. The film succeeds in doing all three.
By Andrew Chan
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