Edelweiss, small and white, clean and bright...

Rating: 8/10 (2 November 2009)

"What kind of fruitcake likes this insanely unrealistic story?" So wail those who hate Sound of Music: Austria as Ruritania, Julie Andrews as cheerfully smiling, singing and dancing novice/governess and so mercilessly sanitized children that they make mockery of every real brat that has ever lived. And there lies the irony. Loosely inspired by the true story of Trapp Family Singers, this musical about singing Austrian family escaping Nazis is indeed insanely unrealistic. It is richly Technicolored, fancifully romantic, clean and entertaining, made with old-fashioned class and craftsmanship... old-fashioned, yes, and in the good way.