Fiddler on the Roof

(1971, Dir.: Norman Jewison, with Topol)

Based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem, Fiddler on the Roof is the story of a Jewish village in late 19th-century Russia under the Tsar. Specifically, it is about Tevye (Topol), a farmer with five daughters, three of whom are at the marrying age.

Through a series of bracing (and by now well-known) musical numbers, Tevye grapples with the conflicts that arise between the traditions of his people and a changing world, the encroachment of an outside that is often hostile to Jews and his insular, often bickering village, and the desire for his daughters’ happiness set against his disapproval of many of their choices.

The movie gains traction on the character of Tevye, one of the more complex and well-rounded figures to be found in film. His arc runs through the everyday questions of familial relationship to the menace of anti-Semitism, but never do Tevye’s bouts of self-questioning feel like artifice. When he asks his wife the simple question of “Do you love me?” one feels not the weight of two hours but of the years of marriage—we want to know, too.

Fiddler does founder a bit in the second half. It is perhaps too easy to know where a film about Jews under the Tsars is going, and the songs become (perhaps naturally, but to the detriment of pace) less lively, more droning. Even so, there is a wellspring of hope in the movie that redeems the darkest moments—there is a comfort in knowing that wherever the characters end up, their answer to the question “Do you love me?” will always remain the same.