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Nov. 23, 2007
Fiddler alive and well
DVDs include interviews and special features.
ADRIENNE TOOCH
The movie version of the popular musical Fiddler on the Roof has recently been released in a two-DVD collector's edition. The inspirational musical, based on the stories of Shalom Aleichem, is chock full of soul, emotion and pure delight that will keep viewers singing, and perhaps even dancing, along to the Oscar Award-winning score.
The film opens with the music from the fiddler sitting on the roof and the sun rising on Anatevka, a small, fictional Russian shtetl. We are then introduced to Tevye, played by the legendary Chaim Topol, a poor milkman, husband and father to five daughters. The entire family and, indeed, all of the Jews in the village, are struggling to cope under harsh czarist rule, in 1905. While preparing for his daily deliveries, Tevye gives us a description of the people who make up Anatevka: there are the Jews and there are the non-Jews – the constable, the priest and numerous other authority figures. He explains, "We don't bother them and, so far, they don't bother us." Unfortunately, that situation changes – for the worse.
The themes in Fiddler are universal: homelessness and endurance, religious devotion and doubt and, above all, the constant battle to maintain strong tradition in times of change. The Jews of Anatevka rely on tradition for balance and guidance in their lives. "Traditions on eating, clothing, working, devotion to God," explains Tevye. "Everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do." He adds, "Without tradition, our lives would be as shaky as the fiddler on the roof."
While trying to marry off his three older daughters, who have no dowries, Tevye is confronted with the reality that the Jewish customs and traditions as he knows them will not necessarily always stay the same. Times are changing and the daughters, being guided by their hearts and not by their elders, want to make their own matches. Tevye would have eldest Tzeitel marry the rich butcher, Lazar Wolf, but she's in love with the poor tailor, Motel. As for Hodel, the second oldest, she falls in love with the young revolutionary student, Perchick, while Chava commits the deplorable sin of falling in love with and ultimately marrying a Russian, outside of the Jewish faith.
As the movie develops, we are introduced to the many characters that make up this colorful village. In particular, the sharp-tongued, yet loving wife of Tevye, Golde, and Motel, the nervous and twitchy tailor, played by Academy Award-nominee Leonard Frey. Together with the many comedic moments in Fiddler, there are also numerous heartbreaking scenes, as we are enveloped into the unpredictable lives of the Jews in Russia in the early 1900s.
At the end of the movie, after the Jews are forced to leave their homes, grim and final goodbyes are said and Tevye begins pulling the wagon packed with their belongings. Other villagers join the circle, including the fiddler.
The second disc of the collector's edition includes a host of bonus features, such as commentary by director Norman Jewison and Topol, deleted scenes, documentaries, interviews and more.
Some of the highlights include the interview with the actresses who play Tevye's daughters, Rosalind Harris (Tzeitel), Michele Marsh (Hodel) and Neva Small (Chava), as they reminisce about auditioning and getting their parts. In Set in Reality: Production Design, we are given a peek into the enormous task of rebuilding a Jewish shtetl and, most worthwhile, is an interview with Sheldon Harnick, Joseph Stein and (via a 2005 phone interview) Jerry Bock about the process by which they wrote the musical's songs. Nominated for eight, and winner of three, Academy Awards (cinematography, score and sound), Fiddler on the Roof is a musical masterpiece, featuring such classics as "If I Were a Rich Man," "Matchmaker" and "Sunrise, Sunset."
Although Fiddler on the Roof is long, running at three hours, and its subject matter is oftentimes grim, it gets to the heart of the human experience. Anyone who has seen it knows why the film remains popular more than 35 years after its initial release. The two-DVD collector's edition would not only be a perfect gift for avid fans, but also as an introduction for the uninitiated to Tevye, Golde and the rest of Anatevka.
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