West Side Story Movie Review: Spielberg’s brilliant remake of a classic feels old-school yet relevant 

What do prolific filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Ang Lee, Ridley Scott and Steven Spielberg have in common? They have all mastered the art of going outside their comfort zone to straddle multiple genres. Spielberg, whose 33 feature films fall under a spectrum of genres, has finally realised his dream to do a musical with West Side Story. The second film adaptation of the 1957 musical of the same name, West Side Story is a lovely homage to the stage plays. While retaining the true essence of a simple yet relatable story, and delivering a film that is slightly better than the original, West Side Story will surely be one more feather on the master filmmaker's much-decorated cap.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story is set in 1950s’ Upper West Side of New York City where people of different races were forced to share the neighbourhood. The story explores the rivalry between two teenage street gangs - Sharks, consisting of Puerto Ricans and Jets, a gang of white men. Stuck in the crossfire are Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler), a young couple whose affiliation lies with opposing gangs. While the Sharks are working-class migrants with aspirations, the Jets are the product of negligence by their family and society, which has made them a bunch of nihilists with deep-rooted racism. As one of the characters calls them, they are, "the last of the can't make it Caucasians."

Given the violent happenings, the 'too good to be true' love story might feel out of place, but the raw passion and brutality works in favour of the film's realistic themes, which are elevated by the emotional foot-tapping numbers. The songs are wonderfully choreographed, making it a visual treat. The long shots that linger for that extra moment feel like a homage to its stage origins. Apart from the lead cast, the makers have also roped in some of the actors from the 1961 film - like Rita Moreno and Valentina. While the performances of some of the young cast are choppy at times, the intriguing screenplay, something we rarely associate with a musical, makes up for it. Speaking of which, the music score by David Newman is splendid and just like Spielberg with the story, Newman has arranged and adapted Leonard Bernstein's original score for the film with a number of alterations. Smaller details like the costumes of the Jets and Sharks, being different shades of Blue and Red respectively - colours seen in both Puerto Rico and USA's flags - is a lovely touch.

While the film, microscopically, is the story of a couple blinded by love, West Side Story also showcases the socioeconomic problems that force the rivalry between people of a multiracial neighbourhood. Given the age of the source material, one can easily brush this film under the carpet for being, for the lack of a better word, old. But the issues and politics spoken in West Side Story are, unfortunately, still relevant in today’s world.

The best example could be that of a character named Anybodys who is desperate to become a Jet. In the 1961 film, the character was shown to be a tomboy, but in the latest film, the character is portrayed as a trans person, and is played by non-binary actor Iris Menas. Incidentally, Disney, which has distributed the film worldwide, refused to make cuts requested by censors of the Middle Eastern countries. They did the same thing recently with Eternals. Speaking about changes, the film also does not subtitle the Spanish lines. Spielberg backed the decision by saying it was done, "out of respect for the inclusivity of our intentions to hire a totally Latinx cast..." When Spanish is spoken, like in one of the critical scenes involving Maria, her brother Bernardo (David Alvarez) and his girlfriend Anita (Ariana DeBose), the emotions are so high and it is obvious that translations wouldn't do justice to the scene.  

West Side Story is a textbook example of how getting the basics right at every department can lead to a stupendous final output. While the original film might have nabbed 10 Oscars, the film is still criticised for popularising racist and sexist stereotypes and that's something the latest iteration largely steers away from and is contemporary with its take on social and cultural depiction. On the whole, West Side Story is not just grittier than the original but also more stylish, realistic and pro-representation, thereby making it one of Spielberg's best films in years