beware of the past. I almost always approach mine on toes and afraid of some surprise. The personal past holds traces that usually go from the noblest to the most abominable, all ordered according to their price, their shame, their acceptance, or their rejection. Opening the brain and activating memory are risky decisions. A light should warn you at the slightest movement: “It is dangerous to look inside.” There is no greater disappointment than returning excitedly to the book or movie that changed your life, and realizing that they do not like anything that marked you at the time. It is good to assume in these cases that the prisms change over time. That “we, those of that time, are no longer the same”. Rather review the historical past, that of the time you had to live and of which you only retain the memory of a few specific events (for the rest there are already, if necessary, the newspaper archives) it is much less risky; it is clear that in the ‘totum revolutum’ of shared events one feels much less exposed and vulnerable.
When Steven Spielberg announced its intention to shoot a new version of ‘West Side Story’odes my alarms. The traffic light of memories became amber, attentive to changing red or green depending on the result. Not for free the movie Robert Wyse occupies very bulky volumes of my sentimental memory. There was a time when I remembered with certainty the times I came to see it at the newly opened Aribau cinema in Barcelona. Now, not so reliable, but with a lot of approach, I can say that they were fifteen to twenty, in so many morning sessions throughout 1963. If we add to this another look for every year since then (television shows, Beta and VHS videos, LaserDisc, CD-Rom, BlueRay and several other already obsolete media), the addition gives a result close to eighty. It is, needless to say, The movie I’ve seen most times in my life. Add to this the occasional enjoyment of the theatrical original and call me ‘freaky’ if you feel that way. I can not (must or will) contradict them.
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With this backpack behind me, what to do with the new version of Spielberg? Resist me? Looking for excuses? Delay the moment of meeting? Or, on the contrary, facing the challenge and exposing myself to disappointment – if there was any, was it possible – with a willing mind? This is what I did. I entered the cinema with fear in my body, I confess. And I went away, rejoicing. Because what seemed difficult, if not impossible, has been achieved: today’s ‘West Side Story’ is not only as good, but even better, much better than back then. To put it bluntly: Spielberg is a genius and his cinema is great. The film is as beautiful, emotional and moving as Wise’s, but much more vibrant, tough, direct, radical and dedicated. A gift from God for those of us who, like me, were in our twenties in the sixties.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com