MovieChat Forums > South Pacific (1958) Discussion > My Review

My Review

posted 9 years ago by jmbwithcats
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South Pacific is a musical that is both awful and beautiful at the same time... it's trying to tell this story of two hopeful optimists in war time, and I imagine that meant something after the war, those who were worried about how to go on. You really do need to take it into context, and because of this I do give the simple story a bit of a pass, clearly the movie is talking about many things that simply do not exist today, and I have no frame of reference for... today many of the themes would be seen as racist, the treatment of the natives, like they're just content to be occupied, giving up their young virgin daughters to a GI to perhaps give a better life, how white washed, and banal the lyrics- to be stationed far from home, disconnected from the life you knew, just trying to start over, regretting the mistakes of your past... "Once you have found her, never let her go." rings true with a lot of what I've been talking about lately... when we find the things in life we truly resonate with, we often keep seeking out of a habitual desperation instead of stopping, appreciating what we've found, and building something.

Bali Ha'i represents that elusive Xanadu, that perfection that truly does not exist. Paradise as state of mind, and to be content with who, what and where we are.

The inspiration for the story I can appreciate, but perhaps it is the execution I take issue with.... and lastly, after listening to Charlotte Church sing Bali Ha'i, no one will ever top her gorgeous performance. Some Enchanted Evening too is a lovely song.

And there it is the story of South Pacific, the same as the one in Rocky Horror Picture Show... stated simply in the song Happy Talk; "You gotta have a dream, if you don't have a dream, How you gonna have a dream come true?"

Don't dream it, be it... so what we have here is a difficult time where hope is lost... regained... a dream hoped for, a dream regained... and a dream come true.

This is what mortality teaches us: that everything but love is meaningless.

You know who would have been fantastic in Ray Walston's part in South Pacific? Don Adams... it's his humor, and he could really sing. In fact, Ray Walston looks a bit like Don Adams in the movie of South Pacific.

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[–] dmnemaine 9 years ago

You would probably appreciate a well done stage production of South Pacific (see the video of the recent Lincoln Center revival) more than this film. The unfortunate use of color filters distracts from the plot, and is just downright grotesque in some cases. Also, if the dialogue is done in a more crisp, in the monent style than the dreamy "out of it" style of the film, it plays a whole lot better.