Enchanting, almost nostalgic art!

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2005)

With trepidation I decided to watch The Wizard Of Oz, for I have memories of it from when I was five, 32 years ago. My memory was of a flying house, and of a laughing witch, who didn't quite look like the witch I saw yesterday, but that is false memory for you! Of course yesterday I saw the movie as a hardened adult, as opposed to a pure innocent, so philosophically I am a different person. Even if there were no nostalgia in memory, there would have been, I feel sure, a sense that the morals of this movie would never be repeated today. We live in a world where even infants' dolls have been sexualised with makeup. Of course no time in history was innocent, but here we had a media that put warmth above "cool", charm above cynicism. There is something of a relatively European feel about Oz, a sensation I rarely see with Hollywood, with the magical The Lord Of The Rings trilogy being another example. The movie was an absolute joy to watch, such pleasure from movies is rare to be had, and I cannot recommend this enough, not just as an antidote to MTV-generation philistinism, but as a genuine work of art. No doubt much has been written on the skill and joyousness of the acting , the amazing sets, the imagination, the witty songs, the metaphors and the songs, all of which are perfect. I recommend showing this to all kids, it has so much more depth than the tacky, merchandising-driven modern stuff they ingest! And equally I recommend it to grown-ups, for we need this therapy more than the kids :)