My advice--Ignore reality and just enjoy.

Rating: 9/10 (22 May 2012)

This review contains LOTS of spoilers. My advice is not to read my review at all, as it will no doubt hinder your enjoyment of this wonderful film! I mean it--DON'T READ ON.....
I adored "The Sound of Music" when I saw it for the first time when I was 16. I loved the film and was completely infatuated with Julie Andrews. Frankly, this isn't at all surprising as practically EVERYONE was in love with Julie Andrews after they watched the film! What wasn't to like?! The music was AMAZING, the story very romantic and the film uplifting throughout. However, I made a mistake. I loved the film so much that I read up on the real Von Trappe family--and it was little like the wonderful family in the film! The Captain was actually always a pretty nice guy and Frauline Maria wasn't exactly 'practically perfect in every way'! To make things MUCH worse, I traveled to Salzburg, Austria several decades later--and I learned THE TRUTH!!! The wonderful Von Trappe home in the film was actually a composite of about a half dozen different homes in the area! The gazebo was miles from the riverfront which was miles from the interior of the Von Trappe home--and the truth got worse! When we visited the cemetery where the family hid out at the end of the film, we were shocked (and VERY offended) at a memorial in this cemetery for the SS--the same folks that manned the death camps! All in all, this is a case where the truth really, really hurt. And, although I am a history teacher who loves historical accuracy, this is a case where I wish I'd never learned the truth. Heck, at the end of the film, you see the family escaping over the Alps to freedom--and in real life, they just took a train to Italy!! Hrmmph!!