This is one of the darker musicals I have seen. Sure the songs are great, but for some reason, I get darkness from this movie...not light and carefree. Of course the subject of the movie (besides the whole men and women hooking up part) is War - so I guess it makes sense that it's dark.
The scenery is sweeping and magnificent. There are trees, beaches, water - as far as the eyes can take it in. I would imagine the film crew back then had a heck of a time figuring out how to make everything fit into the shots. At least if they had a lot of retakes they were in a nice place to be waiting around and re-shooting.
The story behind the movie is more about love and realizing that there are barriers to love - and sometimes you have to sacrifice to break through the barriers. There are two major relationships we watch - that of Liat (a local girl) and the soldier and the other, Emile and Nellie. Both ironically involve an American and a foreigner. Digging a little deeper into things, one could almost wonder if this movie from 1958 was trying to gently push the boundaries of inter-racial relationships.
South Pacific may not be for every taste...although watching it at least once is highly recommended. There are a lot of attitudes and opinions that we sometimes forget about today that people held fast to back then. History is doomed to repeat itself if we do not remember it.
The IMDB Link
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