Discussion 7: On Cradle Will Rock and Art & Power

I think the film Cradle Will Rock is a really great piece of cultural and historical expression. While it’s a bit dense and confusing, it’s a really wonderful portrait of an influential and transcendent moment in time, as well as a compelling celebration of humanity’s goodness.

I think one of the greatest things about the film is how its technical production was so effective in communicating feelings to viewers. The whole thing is fast-paced and chaotic, just like the time in which it is set. The turnover time between lines is very short, so the conversations almost seem sped up. Throughout the movie, the camera moves with the action, and this motion is the main driver of the plot. Because of this, scenes bleed together, and each individual storyline seems connected. At some points, it quite literally zooms out of one scene so that we can see another larger scene. In this way, the movie gives the feeling that viewers are watching a play. Since the movie is essentially about a play, this is quite effective in making the audience feel connected to the theme.

There are definitely also a few aspects of the movie that hinder its message. First, the fast pace of the scenes is really hard to keep track of. I’ve watched this movie several times now, and I think it took a few times for me to really understand some things, simply because I missed certain details because they happened so fast. Another byproduct of this has to do with the quick turnaround of the spoken lines. When the characters talked, I felt as if I could hear the script through them. And I don’t think this necessarily had to do with the actors’ capabilities, but more to do with the way the script was written. It felt staged, which I don’t doubt was intentional, but which also just felt a bit hollow. For this reason, and because the movie didn’t delve into any one character’s life especially deeply, I didn’t feel very empathetic at any moment. I never really felt very attached or very involved. Many of the characters felt like stereotypes, which made the film feel a bit more like a history lesson than a drama.

Nonetheless, the movie was really great at illustrating a specific moment in time very clearly. I also think, just like Tim Robbins’ essay mentions, that the final production of the play does make a spectacular ending to the film. It wraps everything up nicely – all the things I hadn’t been able to keep track of before – and it is finally an emotional moment. The courage it took those actors to stand up like that, as well as the irony and humor in the play, is really compelling. The whole film does seem like it’s never stopping, rushing forward, leading up to this moment. Which is in its own way effective. I only wish that I had more emotional moments with deeper characters, so that I may have felt more involved as a viewer.