Fiddler on the Roof (1971) - film review

Ukraine, 1905. Tevye is a Jewish milkman who lives in Anatevka, a village in Tsarist Russia.  His five daughters are a constant cause of anxiety to him, but one day his burden is eased slightly when the butcher Lazar Wolf, a comparatively wealthy man, offers to marry his eldest, Tzeitel.  Although Tevye thinks nothing of marrying his daughter to a man who is older than himself, Tzeitel has other ideas – she has already decided to marry Motel, an impoverished tailor.  Tevye hasn’t the heart to oppose his daughter’s wishes and he gives his consent.  His next eldest daughter, Hodel, then decides it is her turn to marry.  To Tevye’s incredulity, she has chosen Perchik, a penniless student who is obsessed with revolutionary politics.  Once again, the kind-hearted milkman cannot stand in the way of his daughter’s happiness.   However, Tevye is not so generous when his third daughter reveals that she intends to marry a non-Jew...

Whilst it was widely criticised on its first release for exploiting Jewish culture for the purposes of mass entertainment, Fiddler On The Roof has stood the test of time remarkably well and continues to be one of the most highly regarded film musicals.  The film is closely adapted from the original, hugely successful Broadway musical, which was itself derived from a series of short stories entitled Tevye and his Daughters by the Ukranian writer Sholom Aleichem.  

Controversially, the lead part of Tevye went not to Zero Mostel, who made the role famous in the original Broadway musical, but to the lesser known Topol, who played the part in the London production.  It is believed that Topol was chosen in preference to Mostel because he was of direct Russian-Jewish origin.  The film also offered a young Paul Michael Glaser one of his first acting jobs, a few years before he found international fame as Detective Dave Starsky in the top-rated TV crime series Starsky and Hutch. Ruth Madoc, of Hi-De-Hi! fame, also makes her acting debut in this film.  It’s a small world, n’est-ce pas?

Beautifully photographed and buoyed by its exuberant musical numbers (which include the famous If I Were A Rich Man), Fiddler On The Roof is by any criterion a first rate film, but what makes it particularly special is the rapport that Topol manages to establish with his audience.  In what would be the finest performance of his career, Topol portrays Tevye  sympathetically and with such conviction that the spectator genuinely feels for what the character and his people have endured.  The film’s ending is particularly moving, bringing to mind images of the Holocaust.  The poignant sight of a community fragmenting completes the underlying theme of the film, which is the breaking up of the old traditions by modern influences, motivated by political events and the assertion of individual freedoms.

Although the film initially met with some very mixed reviews, it still proved to be a notable commercial success, no doubt helped by the popularity of the stage musical (which had been running for seven years by this time).  The film garnered three Oscars in 1971- for its cinematography, music and sound – and was nominated for five others (in categories that included Best Picture and Best Actor, for Topol).  Yes the film does get uncomfortably schmaltzy in a few places.  Yes, at three hours long, it could have benefited from some judicious pruning.  But for all that, Fiddler On The Roof remains one of the most exquisitely crafted and emotionally satisfying of film musicals – an upbeat film which reminds us that, however bleak things get, life is still worth living.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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