BEFORE: Well, I watched the 2012 take on the 1980's, and the 1980's take on the 1930's, so it's only logical to follow that with a 1972 film about the 1930's. Linking from "Pennies From Heaven", Bernadette Peters was also in "Silent Movie" with Liza Minnelli (last seen in "The Muppets Take Manhattan")
THE PLOT: A female girlie club entertainer in Weimar Republic era Berlin romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.
AFTER: Well, we had strippers in "Rock of Ages", prostitution in "Pennies From Heaven", and we've got a bit of both in Sally Bowles tonight. Other similarities to "Pennies" - love triangle, unplanned pregnancy. When I keep seeing the same story elements over and over, I start to feel like these characters (and by extension, all of us) are just lab rats, and the only thing that changes from day to day is the shape of the maze.
It's funny that last night's film got me talking about the gay angle, because that's very prevalent here in the depiction of Berlin, where apparently "anything goes" was the motto, at least in the Cabaret. Menage a trois, men and men, transvestites, spanking, it all gets acted out in musical form on stage, and no doubt behind the scenes as well. And the love triangle in question, between a woman and two men, works in all of the directions, if you catch my drift.
I'm kind of glad I waited until I was an adult to watch this, because I think if I had seen this film when I was a teen, it might have weirded me out. Plus I think I would have missed a lot of the jokes - like seeing a woman in the background, standing at a urinal - clearly something is going on there, but it's kind of glossed over if you're not paying attention.
While the film doesn't cover WWII outright, it's set in the days leading up to the Third Reich - so we, the audience have some extra information about the future that the characters don't. Given the Nazi persecution of Jews and homosexuals, we're not allowed the benefit of convincing ourselves that all of the characters are going to live happily ever after, because they probably won't. And those that mock the Nazi party on stage are especially at risk - Nazis weren't really known for their ability to take a joke.
If anything, this film should be just as relevant, if not more, these days - what with gay rights being such an issue in Russia AND right here in the U.S. The conservative parties in both places should be reminded that denying rights to people based on race and orientation was a key part of the Fascism platform - and when you find yourself siding with the Nazis, that SHOULD be a wake-up call. And they have the outright nerve to call the OTHER party "Socialist".
However, the overall message of the film "Cabaret" seemed a lot more oblique to me, like it fell just short of making some kind of point. Nazis are bad? Duh... The lives and loves of two people don't amount to a hill of beans in 1930's Berlin? Some girls that you meet in nightclubs aren't really girls?
Also starring Michael York (last seen in "54"), Joel Grey (last seen in "Choke"), Marisa Berenson (last seen in "Color Me Kubrick"), Helmut Griem, Fritz Wepper.
RATING: 4 out of 10 prairie oysters
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