Cradle Will Rock (1999)

Premise: A struggling artist (Hank Azaria) battles a crazed director (Angus MacFadyen), a pretentious producer (Cary Elwes), and a world-weary cast (including John Turturro and Emily Watson). Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) hires Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades) to paint a mural in his new Rockefeller Centre. An employee (Joan Cusack) of the Federal Theatre Program becomes involved with a congressional hearing against her employer and involved with a ventriloquist (Bill Murray).

Okay, that plot description took me about 15 minutes, and I haven't even begun to scratch the surface. Basically, Azaria writes some social commentary into a musical, and there is a boat load of fallout. Also, there is a witch-hunt for the "reds" in the Federal Theatre Program (F.T.P.), a precursor to the Macarthyism that would follow. In case you didn't know, the federal government in the U.S.A. during the Great Depression came up with programs to hire the millions ofunemployed citizens. Most jobs were hard labour based, like making roads and building dams, but there were also more high art based programs such as the F.T.P.. In case it wasn't already clear, this is "a (mostly) true story".

The one word to sum up this film is "ambitious". Honestly, writer/director Tim Robbins, I feel, moved away from his critically acclaimed Dead Man Walking genre, to tell a story that has more personal resonance for him. See, besides Michael Moore, Robbins and his wife, Susan Sarandon, have always made their leftist views evident. While this movie was made six years ago (yes, I can do math, but a movie isn't generally released until a solid year, maybe longer, after it was filmed), I have a friend who feels that people can anticipate a war 6 years in advance. Okay, maybe the film isn't social commentary about the war, or the propaganda that goes with it (e.g. Joan Cusack admonishing her co-workers for being "anti-fascists"), or the censorship that inevitably follows (The Cradle Will Rock is shut down on opening night). Maybe Robbins just wanted to tell a previously untold story.

Wait a second, I'm completely ignoring Bob Roberts. Nevermind, Robbins is up to his same old tricks, and he does it beautifully. He tells the story like he's opening the petals of a rose, each frame moving you closer to that intoxicating scent. And then you are hooked. You are lost, confused, amused, sad, and, above all, thinking. As the character Orson Wells proclaims, "art is meant to provoke!". Did I mention that I love Orson Wells in this movie? MacFadyen chews up the scenery as that ambitious, conceited genius, and his scenes with Elwes are priceless.

I'm not sure I can do justice to the star-studded cast, but I will try. I had no idea Azaria could do drama so well, Turturro knocked my socks off, Watson should really not sing, John Cusack surprised me as a villain (and doing the Charleston, no less!), Blades pours out passion, Joan Cusack delivers another charming (although depressing) performance, and Murray knows how to play all the right notes. Oops! I forgot to mention Susan Sarandon, Vanessa Redgrave (who is actually my favourite in this movie), Philip Baker Hall, Cherry Jones, Jamey Sheridan, Jack Black, and so many others. I think it's entirely possible that Robbins called everyone he knew (at least in New York) and invited them to make a movie with him.

So, um, yeah. Really ambitious film; Robbins pretty much pulled it off. It was difficult to follow at times, and I completely didn't understand how Murray and his dummy fit into all of it. Oh, well, it's still really good, and I think you will like it if you have time to watch it.