Pop Opera Musical Of The Highest Calibre

Rating: 10/10 (14 February 2005)

Director Baz Luhrman completes his Red Curtain Trilogy (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet) with Moulin Rouge, released in 2001. It is an combination of theatrical and musical forms coming together in harmony to produce a moving romantic tragedy. It's also an attempt to bring back the musical film genre, which has been lost since the days of "My Fair Lady" "The Sound of Music", "Camelot" and "Oliver," all of which were made into musicals in the 60's. True, many people object to musicals on screen. They seem to want it to remain strictly on stage. As of late, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom Of the Opera was released in theaters starring Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum in a Joel Schumacher film. Chicago won Best Picture in 2003. It's hard to say what it is Hollywood wants, really. Musicals on film are just as dramatic and powerful as any straightforward drama. While Moulin Roug does go over-the-top at times and the performances are throwbacks to operatic convention -boy meets girl, they fall in love, villain wants the girl for himself, girl dies, this can still work if the movie has a certain magic touch and Moulin Rouge has this. It's a great film with easy accessibility by a young MTV-fed audience. The songs featured within the plot are Elton John's "Your Song", Whitney Houston's "I will Always Love You" "Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong" "Silly Love Songs" and seemingly all the most memorable love songs of the 20th century. In addition, pop numbers by Madonna "Like A Virgin" and the new version of Patti Labelle's "Lady Marmalade" sung by Missy Elliot, Christina Aguilera and Lil' Kim. The dance sequences during the "Sultan and Courtesan" opera which mirror the plight of Satine and Christian, was modeled after choreographed Baliwood musical dances. It is quite desperate in its attempt to kick in the new 21st century musical but it works, mainly because of the strong leads. Nicole Kidman as the tragic, La Traviata type heroine Satine, a courtesan for the eponymous nightclub, is doing a terrific performance. Furthermore, it's quite different from her normally serious work as an actress. She's really having fun with this character, especially in the "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" number. She sang using her own voice, too. Ewan Mcgreggor plays her true love, the poet Christian. He is sensitive, warm and artsy in the role, and again, he is using his own voice. Baz Luhrman may have already conceived the idea for staging "La Boheme" which hit theaters only about a year later. The scenery and art direction was modeled after the Montmartre that is used in Moulin Rouge. The voice of tenor Placido Domingo was used as the Man In The Moon, a little bit of trivia for you opera fans.