Bradley Cooper's film, "Maestro" is getting a lot of buzz.
A gentleman named Matthew Behrens posted his point of view this week.
My point of view....regarding his point of view.....follows his point of view....
Really disappointed in viewing as a holiday movie, Maestro (apart from the wonderful performance of Carey Mulligan), since the film seemed more about Bradley Cooper (vanity piece, ie, wow, the fake nose, the look, the accent!) than Leonard Bernstein, the composer, conductor and lefty in all his nuance and complexity.
Mostly, I found the film to tell a story completely divorced from the dynamic history of which Bernstein was a part (including what I thought was a missed opportunity to look at his being gay in the context of the soon to emerge LGBTQ liberation movement that was percolating during the 40s and 50s despite the significant risks of being "exposed")
How could this film completely ignore 50 years of history in which Bernstein played a part, from being more or less blacklisted in the early 1950s and having his passport revoked (and then more or less giving in with a loyalty letter) to his support for civil rights and opposition to the war against the people of Vietnam?
Not a single mention of the New York fundraising events for the civil rights movement or for the anti-war movement (“Broadway for Peace”), the latter where a song by Bernstein was premiered with him at the piano accompanying Barbra Streisand. The anti-Semitic Nixon hated Bernstein; the war criminal president requested the rather militaristic “1812 Overture” for his 1973 inauguration; Bernstein and others arranged a counter-concert at Washington’s National Cathedral, scheduled at precisely the same time as Nixon’s, but presented Haydn’s “Mass in Time of War”. Now THAT would be a fine movie moment contrasting the two concerts.
The film also fails to explore the role of Bernstein as an energetic member of a generation of composers (Aaron Copland, Florence Price, Marc Blitzstein, Hugo Friedhofer, among others) who redefined musical theatre and film scoring (when he was at Harvard in 1939, Bernstein organized and led a performance of Marc Blitzstein's controversial working class musical, The Cradle Will Rock.)
It also fails to explore (only mentions) the revolutionary role he played with his educational concert programming; for over 25 years Young People's Concerts comprised the most influential series of music education programs ever produced for prime-time television. As one of his kids wrote: "All over America, families gathered in their living rooms in front of their big, bulky black & white TV sets, and watched Leonard Bernstein tell them all about classical music. I can't tell you how many people come up to me now, everywhere I go in the States, and they say something like: "Oh, I used to watch your father's Young People's Concerts on TV, and I've been a music lover ever since!" And an equally large number of orchestra musicians come up to me and say, "I watched the Young People's Concerts when I was a kid, and that's why I'm a musician today!"
It also would have been fascinating to explore his mixed feelings working on West Side Story and On the Waterfront, among other pieces, alongside snitches who turned in (with often lethal consequences) the names of fellow artists to witch-hunting committees (you know the ones, Kazan, Robbins et al.) The film also ignores the infamous Black Panther fundraiser held at the Bernsteins’ upscale residence (later condemned by Tom Wolfe as “radical chic.” Montealegre sharply condemned the response in a letter to The New York Times, writing: "The frivolous way in which it was reported as a 'fashionable' event is ... offensive to all people who are committed to humanitarian principles of justice.")
Bernstein's FBI file began filling up in the 1940s as he got involved in progressive causes like peace and civil rights, and it continued with his involvement in the civil rights movement, Vietnam War protests, nuclear disarmament and AIDS advocacy.
It also erases the politics of Felicia, who was the first chair of the Women’s Division of the New York Civil Liberties Union, \was arrested at an anti-war protest in Washington in 1972, co-authored a 1974 report to the New York State parole system with Civil Rights leaders including Coretta Scott King, and collaborated with Amnesty International in the wake of Augusto Pinochet’s 1973 coup in Chile, where she was raised. The film makes much of her Chilean background but fails when it most counts.
That said, there are some marvelous moments where you see how Bernstein got caught up in the music he conducted and became one with the score. Maybe Netflix will give Bernstein his proper due one day. IMHO, this film didn't.
this review of "Maestro" and the comments 'reviewing' the review brings at least one unavoidable 'inevitable' into focus.....
the classic, if blunt, axiom...."opinions are like elbows and assholes....everybody's got em...."
and Cooper's artistic decision (and his prerogative, by the way) to portray, let's call it, a single chapter in the very multi layered life of the larger than life, real life maestro is inevitably going to draw fire from those whose 'go to' is lasering in on what ain't....as opposed to what is....
(oldie but goodie....how many bluegrass musicians does it take to change a light bulb?....two....one to change the bulb...the other to bitch about it being electric....)
Behrens offers an obviously detailed, admittedly articulate personal opinion (again, we must, in fairness, refer back to 'elbows and...') as to the what "ain't" in this movie.
But those in the comment thread who climb aboard either the caring "love it, darling" or classic Costanza "can'tstandya!" trains, especially like those, including Behrens himself, who go to great lengths to praise or condemn in lengthy detail, miss an important, if inconvenient, truth that is easily, and often, missed.
Once again....elbows....
I developed, what in hindsight was, an interesting habit during my last few years of doing talk radio.
Essentially telling listeners who openly criticized my shows to fuck off.
But not for the reason that one might instantly assume having read that last sentence.
Yeah, I can be a cocky little imp, but I never fool myself into thinking, let alone believing, that I'm without flaw, smarter than anyone and/or incapable of gaining from other's points of view.
I leave that mutation of character to clinical narcissists and sociopaths.
And presumptive GOP nominees for President.
But that's redundant.
The 'eff off' response, on my part, was always, and only, triggered not by content....but by attitude.
If a listener chose to engage me in discussion/debate about whatever issue was on the table in the moment, I not only welcomed it, I encouraged it. That is, after all, what healthy, useful, non-masturbatory talk radio is, theoretically, all about.
And doing a talk radio show expecting, even only allowing, to hear solely from people who agree with the host is neither intelligent nor professional.
It's egotistical. Arrogant. Possibly destructive. Even dangerous. And certainly embarrassing.
In other words, makes for lousy radio....a great red cap rally....but lousy radio.
And even if the back and forth got a little hot and bothered, I kept a firm hand on the wheel to insure that we never went off the cliff resulting from allowing that wheel to be yanked too far left...or right.
When and where did Mr. 'hey, thanks for your call...now fuck off' make an appearance.
When the caller decided to use 'the issue' as an excuse to harass, hassle, even try to hang the host.
"you know....your show would be a lot better if......"
Or the more articulate, erudite, always enlightening....
"you suck, man...."
Gotta love the American skill with a Thesaurus, ya know?
And what, one might ask at this point, is the difference between hot and bothered disagreement on an issue and crudely voiced condemnation of a show, and the host, itself?
Inviting callers to call in and speak up on the issues is what the show is for and is (what) I asked for.
The content, approach, style, method and/or skill with which I presented said show?
Hey....who asked ya?
Yeah, yeah, everybody's entitled to their opinion and all that other yada yada blah blah bromide bullshit that has become in 'made great again' America an excuse...a blank check....to suspend the rules of respect and courtesy and ratchet up the asshole-ness to DefDumb1.
You want to go toe to toe, cheek to cheek, mano y mano on the tingly and turbulent topics of our time....call in and let's bat those bitches back and forth.
You don't like me or the way I do what I do?
Flip your 'blowhard bully' switch to off and go get yourself your own fucking talk show.
I'll be both honored, and locked and loaded, to be your first caller.
Bradley Cooper made a movie about Leonard Bernstein.
It tells only a small part of the remarkable life of a very complicated human being.
See it. Don't see it.
Discuss, debate, even argue on the topics Cooper illustrates...bi-sexuality in the 1950's...the impact of 'classical music' on, then, more traditional Broadway productions....the challenges of marriage between two very unique and individual personalities....even the long lost art (malady) of chain smoking.....
You don't like Cooper....or his use of a fake nose....or his choice to focus on one facet of a mucho multi faceted life?
Thought I was gonna say "fuck off", didn't ya?
Not my place.
That's Mr. Cooper's prerogative and/or pleasure.
Me?
Here's my two cents.
Go make your own fucking movie.
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