My views: 11
When my mom first took me to see this film in early 2003, I was very excited, partly because I was only 12 and my parents usually took the 13 in PG-13 very seriously, and partly because one of my best friends had the soundtrack and I pretty much had "Cell Block Tango" and "We Both Reached for the Gun" memorized. It did not disappoint. This movie fascinated me for two main reasons, which are the two reasons I watched it over and over again, and the two reasons I still find this film worth watching 10 years later.
First, as I'm sure you've gathered from reading this blog, I absolutely adore musicals. Practically all the music I listen to and a significant proportion of the movies I watch are musical-related. So I was particularly intrigued by Chicago because, not only is it a musical, it's actually a somewhat plausible musical. Let's face it; in real life people don't randomly break out into perfectly choreographed dance routines while singing clever songs that they all make up off the top of their heads to music that comes out of nowhere. I mean, I wish they did, and I'm convinced the world would be a much better place if that happened, but unfortunately it doesn't. In Chicago, all of the musical numbers are either part of a performance or in Roxie's head. Roxie wants to be a Vaudeville performer so badly, she turns her world into a musical. I love the juxtaposition of what's going on in Roxie's outside world and what's going on in her imagination. I think it's very well done, and it's what sets this apart from the other musicals I love. Also, I really like that even though these actors aren't known for their singing, they all have really good voices (Mamma Mia, take note).
Secondly, I found it fascinating, albeit unsettling, that I could love and hate these characters simultaneously. I was used to good guys and bad guys. Fred Casely was a jerk, but did he deserve to die? Roxie and Velma were murderers, but to what extent were their actions justified? And does it even matter? When I first saw this film, I was just starting to realize that the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters (and Order of the Phoenix hadn't even been published yet, so you can't blame me for not knowing it before), and I think this was an important stepping stone in my growing awareness of moral ambiguities. I was comfortable with the clear boundaries between good and bad in my mind: you follow the rules and you're good, you don't and you're bad. This film blurred those lines, confusing me, so I had to keep returning to it over and over again to figure out what was going on. Once I got into my later teens, I started to become more comfortable with this fact of life, and consequently stopped watching this movie as much, but I still return to it every once in a while, and I listen to the soundtrack quite a bit. Also, I feel it necessary to point out that despite all this, my favorite character is still Amos. Moral ambiguities are interesting and all, but I still prefer nice people.
This movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture, so if you want to see what I said about it two years ago when I was watching all the Best Picture Winners, click here.
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