"Chicago" **** (out of ****)Best Picture Oscar (2003)
When "Chicago" was released back in 2002 I declared it the best film of the year. It was as close to good old-fashion entertainment as we were going to get. I felt it did what the movies are suppose to do. It got us excited about them.
Going back to 2002 there were a lot of rumors flying around about this film. For a while it seemed as if it wasn't even going to be made. I think I remember reading that the studio had actually shelved the idea. This was considered a musical which was impossible to film. I remember reading Madonna was going to star in it. I even read a story saying Britney Spears was involved. Great comedy writer Larry Gelbart was rumored to be working on the script. All of this was bubbling around and my anticipation grew stronger and stronger. What exactly was "Chicago" going to be like?
The film is actually based on a play written in the 1920s which was made into a movie in 1927. Because it was a silent movie there was no musical songs. The film is still around however. Here in Chicago at our Chicago International Film Festival, the film debuted in a restored print with a brand new score. My only question is when will it be put on DVD?! Another non-musical version was filmed in 1942 called "Roxie Hart" starring Ginger Rogers (this I have actually seen). And of course in the 1970s Bob Fosse adapted this into a musical with a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb. "Chicago" is the film version of the Fosse play.
Here we have Roxie Hart played by Renee Zellweger. Roxie is a daydreamer. All she wants is to see her name in lights. She wants to be a singer and dancer. She idolizes Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who just went to prison for murdering her husband and sister. But Roxie is also on her way to jail when she murders her lover, Fred Casely (Dominic West), after he led her to believe he had stage connections and could make her a star. Roxie convinces her husband, Amos (John C. Reilly) to take the rap and say Fred was trying to break in their home and he shot him. But soon Amos starts to fit all the pieces together and figures out Roxie was cheating on him.
That is pretty much to set-up to the film. It is a cynical, comedic look at corruption in Chicago. How timely if this was released today. But there is also a social message lurking around here. We live in a culture were everyone wants to be famous and our culture seems to turn everyone into a celebrity. Was Warhol right? Does everyone get 15 minutes of fame?
This message is actually pretty relevant today. Look at all the so-called "reality" television shows. Ordinary people making fools out of themselves trying to prove they can sing or dance or win a date (or even marriage!) just to be seen on TV. Heck, we are even willing to turn a murderer into a celebrity.
When you look at "Chicago" in this light it seems like more than a silly musical. It actually has a story and a "purpose", whatever that means.
When the two women are sent to prison they learn quickly how crooked things even in jail are. The head guard, Mama Morton (Queen Latifah) is not above taking a bribe and doing favors for her inmates, working as something of agent, contacting talent agents on behalf of her "clients" and even setting them up with lawyers, like the man who never lost a case and will defend anyone as long as they pay him $5,000, Mr. Billy Flynn (Richard Gere).
To Flynn the justice system is a joke, a three ring circus. Anyone can be gotten off the hook because the system is corrupt and easily manipulated. Every character admits to having killed a man except one woman, a Hungarian, Katalin (Ekaterina Chtchelkanova), who proclaims her innocence. While we can never tell if she is truly innocent or not, she speaks all of her lines in Hungarian, she is the only woman she see get executed (we Hungarians catch all the breaks!). In her speech during the number, "The Cell Block Tango", she says, and I'm loosely translating here, that she is innocent. Another person tied down her husband while she is suppose to have chopped off his head. Why is Uncle Sam doing this to her? The actress is actually Russian playing the part and speaking with a Russian accent so it was difficult for me to understand everything she says.
But through the Katalin character we get another example of how our justice system really works. Innocent people go to jail while those with money, who can get good lawyers, are set free, even if they are guilty.
"Chicago" in some ways seems to be working on a higher level than just tipping its hat to Fosse and his musical. "Chicago" sometimes seems to be a homage to musicals in general. I couldn't help but think of Busby Berkeley during "The Cell Block Tango" when we see a giant set and in the background we see dancer in black silhouettes behind a red screen. It reminded me of the number "My Forgotten Man" in "The Gold Diggers of 1933" with the soldiers marching.
Another film that comes to mind when watching this movie is another work by Fosse, his "Cabaret". The structure of the films are similar in the way the songs are introduced. Unlike Hollywood musicals the characters don't break out if situations to go into songs. All of the musical numbers are part of Roxie's imagination. In "Cabaret" all the songs were part of a stage show and served as the film's conscience. As in "Cabaret" with the Joel Grey character, the master of ceremonies, who introduces each song, so here we have a bandleader (Taye Diggs) who performs the same function. Only here the character is not as significant. In "Cabaret" the character was more memorable, Grey won an Oscar. Secondly the character seemed more involved in the plot. Here the bandleader does nothing but introduce the songs.
Everyone in "Chicago" surprisingly does their own singing and dancing. In the case of Richard Gere this might not be such a surprise. If you remember he was in another 1920s period piece, "The Cotton Club" directed by Francis Ford Coppola where he actually played the cornet. And he did take dance lessons. But Catherina Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger, as far as I know, have no musical background. They all do a very nice job. Queen Latifah, of course a known singer, performs her song fine, it is probably the most risque of them all, "When You're Good to Mama". And John C. Reilly, back in the days when he actually acted in decent films, sings a song as well. What exactly happened to him. Now he appears in silly comedies no longer taking dramatic parts, why?
The real star of "Chicago" is the music. Kander & Ebb wrote a lot of songs which seem perfectly suited for the time period. The melodies and chord changes they have written are typical of the era. "All that Jazz", "They Both Reached for the Gun", "Nowadays" and "I Move On" are very good examples of their talents.
I don't know if "Chicago" really deserved the Oscar for "Best Picture" back then. It had some stiff competition back then. Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York", Roman Polanski's "The Pianist" and "The Hours" were nominated against it. My guess for the reason it won was because the year before the Academy made the mistake of not giving the Oscar to "Moulin Rouge!" instead giving it to Ron Howard's "A Beautiful Mind". "Chicago" was the Academy's attempt to let a musical win. Others might take a more pretentious view and say the film wasn't "important" enough. First of all, it is only an award show secondly, as I have mentioned "Chicago" does have a message.
The film went on to earn 13 Oscar nominated and walked away with 6. Besides "Best Picture", Catherina Zeta-Jones won "Best Supporting Actress" and the screenplay by Bill Condon won "Best Adapted Screenplay".
"Chicago" is a charming, old-fashioned piece of entertainment. All of the performances are well done with each actor giving their performance there all. Though I must admit, it does look like Gere is acting it up a bit but having a great time doing it, so you can't hold it against him. Strangely he brings you into the movie more so because you want to share in his delight. If you haven't seen "Chicago" yet, I'd strongly recommend it.
p.s. keep your eyes out for a brief cameo by Chita Rivara, she was in the original Broadway production of "Chicago".
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