Recently Fiddler on the Roof was brought up by a friend. Later having seen the movie as a young teen with family, I went to YouTube to listen to a couple songs, then noticed the following YT suggestion:
“Why Fiddler On The Roof is misunderstood”
Aug 5, 2024 Yiddishe Kino Club - yiddishkeit
Tevye opens the movie with a song about tradition, yet the town and his children are changing. Explore the story of how tradition must bend in changing times without breaking, in Norman Jewison’s 1971 movie: Fiddler On The Roof.
CHAPTERS
0:00 - What is ‘Fiddler’ about?
2:00 - Shalom Aleichem
3:12 - The Movie
4:51 - The Fiddler
7:05 - Tradition vs Modernity
9:09 - Matchmaker, Matchmaker
10:24 - Tzeitel
13:12 - Hodel
15:52 - Chava
18:35 - Tevye’s Jewishness
23:41 - Pogroms and Exile
27:48 - The spirit of the Jewish People
The title and introduction didn’t make sense to me, because I remember sitting through it as young teenager and it was emotionally wrenching, there were tears (empathy in action). Understandable given my knowledge of my own parents’ war time experience.
The video’s host doesn’t introduce himself, doesn’t matter because it became obvious he knows his stuff, and he held my attention through his entire succinct presentation. It helps that it resonated with my own sense of the film and story it told. While that’s always simply been gut feelings, this guy sounds like he has some learned chops, so having him explain with some authoritative details was very cool and informative.
Now that I’ve been reminded of it, it seems to me that metaphorically the film has renewed relevance in these times.
Any thoughts?