Product: Romeo and Juliet [Region 2] (1968)
Rating: 5.0
Simply Beautiful
I picked up this movie not too long ago after not seeing it in 25 or so years. The first time I ever saw it was sometime in junior high school. To say that junior high school kids are not mature enough for this kind of material is an understatement. And yet, it was almost at a perfect age to introduce this to us. I remember the constant talking during the showing of the movie and some laughter at the moments of overdramatics here and there, but, it was almost a surreal experience. The antiquated language, the clothes, the silly actions here and there. And yet, one did not realize how timeless these things are - love, hate, war, murder, sadness, enemies. It's all here. And what better way than to show us how ridiculous our human foibles are than to show us how wrong we were by a tragic, sad story such as two enemy families whose children happen to meet and fall in love? Seems like such a ridiculous thing, and yet so simple, and yet so tragic. This was captured so well, so innocently by the young Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting (who looks exactly like Zack Effron in those days in case no one has noticed yet), and the rest of the cast. The dominering fathers, the nervous yet angry mothers, and the nurse and friar who act as their adults they turn to in need.The music is wonderful, it makes you cry right along with it. You can feel the pain, feel the anguish and despair, and the hope surrounding two innocents. Because love should be something beautiful, should be something innocent, without the contraints and complications of the adult world coming in and making it so horrible. Made me cry all over again.