Tim Robbins' new movie, "Cradle Will Rock," from Touchstone Pictures, uses characters from New York during the depression to show how a group of people stood up to defy censorship. In the process, they end up risking their careers, the livelihoods of their families -- in effect, the quality of their lives.
Based on a true story, "Cradle" has a minimum of eight sub-plots that eventually tie together for the final resolution. The main plot revolves around Theatre Works, a part of the Federal Works Project created by Roosevelt in the 1930s.
One side story follows the bureaucracy behind the stage, particularly when the project Director (Cherry Jones) called to testify to Congress about "Communist" influence in the arts. Another story follows the stage itself, Orsen Welles (Angus MacFayden) and composer Marc Blitzstein (Hank Azaria) staging the play.
Then there is the tale of the actors in the play: on one side, homeless hopeful Olive Stanton (Emily Watson) and on the other side, experienced-but-poor actor Aldo Silvano (John Turturro). Other stories involve the patron of the arts, the Countess La Grange (Vanessa Redgrave), and Nelson Rockerfeller (Jon Cusack).
Needless to say, during the first hour of this 2-and-a-half hour movie, I was completely lost.
Although the film's cinematography and sets are lustrous, the time spent on each story was simply too short to become very involved with each character. The intent was clearly to achieve a well-rounded story, with all sides represented -- unfortunately, there are far too many stories to tell.
In the end, many of the sub-plots are left hanging or are quickly brought to awkward conclusions. What we're left with is a beautiful collage of characters, in which each picture hints at a story waiting to be fully told.
The first thing that will strike you watching when watcihing Robbins' direction, is his deep love for the theatre. In fact, when watching "Cradle," one notices that many of the film's elements are structured more like a play than like a film.
For example, the actors act as if on stage, particularly MacFadyen as Orsen Welles. MacFadyen plays Welles with gusto, having tons of fun gesticulating wildly and throwing mini-fits.
If this were another film, I might accuse MacFadyen of over-acting. But in "Cradle," it works perfectly with the movie's tone, drawing you in, making you feel like you were watching a play unfolding.
What saves this film is how beautifully everything ties in during the last hour of the film -- when the play is finally performed. At this point the film stops showing "snippets" of stories, and just focuses on the play at hand. And at this moment, the film becomes totally engrossing to the point that I was left, at the film's end, wanting to see more.
Robbins manages to capture beautiful performances from the actors, especially Emily Watson as an aspiring actress, John Turturro as an actor who worries about providing for his family, and the wonderful Vanessa Redgrave as the batty-for-the-arts Countess.
There are so many fine stories to tell in this film, that I find it hard to blame Robbins for wanting to tell them all. But I would have enjoyed the film so much more if he hadn't tried to tell them all in the same movie.
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