I found this movie on SIght & Sound's Critics' Poll of 2022. Considering the discrepancy between the popularity in that poll and the number of voters on IMDb, this has clearly made an impression on the way few people who have seen this movie.
And it is good. It is very open about the damage racism, slavery, corruption and colonization have inflicted upon the titular West Indies, but it somehow manages to do this in a kind of a fun way without the dissonance between the themes and the approach feeling in any way contrived.
You get the feeling that while this might not be the literal historical truth, it is defiinitely the spiritual historical truth. Things might not have happened exactly like this, but as a musical, you forgive that. It's close enough.
Many of the characters are more like.archetypes than actual characters, but due to the nature of the film, where the same actors play pretty much the same roles through 400 years of history, that works very much for the benefit of the film.
This is very much a movie I would hope more people would have access to.
And it is good. It is very open about the damage racism, slavery, corruption and colonization have inflicted upon the titular West Indies, but it somehow manages to do this in a kind of a fun way without the dissonance between the themes and the approach feeling in any way contrived.
You get the feeling that while this might not be the literal historical truth, it is defiinitely the spiritual historical truth. Things might not have happened exactly like this, but as a musical, you forgive that. It's close enough.
Many of the characters are more like.archetypes than actual characters, but due to the nature of the film, where the same actors play pretty much the same roles through 400 years of history, that works very much for the benefit of the film.
This is very much a movie I would hope more people would have access to.