In The Heights

 

Sometimes in the world of cinema we see the birth of greatness. I am starting to wonder if we aren’t seeing that with the director of In The Heights, Jon M. Chu also the director of Crazy Rich Asians among others. Sure, there have been the growing pains, but it sure seems as if Chu has found his niche of focusing on cultural influences and actors in the telling of his stories.  In In The Heights we see a remarkable story, in the form of a musical telling the story of the Haitian and Puerto Rican cultures in The Heights district of New York City.

 

In In The Heights we see primarily the story of Usnavi, played very nicely by Anthony Ramos, a young man operating a bodega (small inner city grocery store) serving the community he lives in. While he loves his community, we see him striving to get back to his father’s homeland. His father has passed, and Usnavi has the dreams of his youth. We see him telling the story off and on to a group of small children, so early on, we are under the impression that he ultimately ends up back home, in his homeland to the place he has longed for for most of his life. There are friends in the community he lives in though, there are those he clearly loves and one he longs to have a relationship with, even though he is shy by nature, the girl of his dreams is a frequent visitor to the bodega.

 

From the outset, understand, I love theater, and especially musical theater. That does not always transfer over to liking musicals in the form of cinema. In fact, I largely don’t care for them at all. There are occasions like Moulin Rouge, or Les Misérables musical film blows me away, but it’s rare.  I felt from first seeing the previews and trailers for In The Heights this may be a movie I would enjoy. From the quality story, wonderful cultural references, good acting, likeable characters and yes, even the song and dance, I more than enjoyed this movie I loved it. I loved it mostly for the thought it gave me though; thought about various things that seem to permeate the news as of late.

 

First let me say, while I recognize the importance of understanding that my reviews are read by a worldwide audience, I am one who also loves my country. That does not mean I always love some of the things my country does or the positions of many of our people. The one thing In The Heights brought out in a clear way is the absolute beauty of the melting pot aspect of America. The cultural influences be it from wherever such as Puerto Rico or The Dominican Republic, or other nations, yes, even Mexico, Canada, Honduras or wherever are a part of what makes America America.

 

I realize that for some this can and often does become a part of a controversial subject, that being immigration. In the defense of the movie, let’s also remember that Puerto Rico is an American territory.  As one with Native Original American Heritage I am always confused by the reality that America is itself a nation of immigrants, and how unfortunate it is that so many forget that. In The Heights illustrates the strengths that come to America because of immigration. While a fair and reasonable debate about legal versus illegal immigration, the concept of the contributions of others to this nation should not be debatable and unfortunately is far too often debated in ignorance, stereotypes or even at its worst, flat out racism.

 

In In The Heights we also see the power of one person to change a community. It is so easy in life to say things like, “Well what can I do by myself,” or things of the sort. We see a wonderful illustration of that in this movie in several ways, one a father played by Jimmy Smits who makes numerous sacrifices to provide the best life possible for his daughter, as well as Abuela played beautifully by Olga Merediz. She is the glue of the community, the one who emphasizes the importance of coming together, being a family that goes beyond blood. She gives life to the community by bringing people together.  There are others though, we see example after example in a brilliantly directed supporting cast and let’s not forget, as one who does not typically appreciate or like musicals, the music and dance contributes greatly to this feel-good gem of a movie.

 

This is as close to a near perfect movie as I have seen in some time. With a few minor flaws in the story telling and choreography, (which is largely brilliant) it would have gotten a perfect score of a 10. However, for those flaws, I hate to do it, but I reluctantly give on a scale of 1 – 10 a 9 for this movie. In The Heights is worth seeing, it is worth the thought and discussion about such things related to immigration and those who are here now, contributing to the beauty of this thing called, America.

 

To see the trailer for this film click on the following link:

In The Heights - Washington Heights Trailer - YouTube

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