"Cradle Will Rock" is an outstanding movie for so many reasons. Because I viewed it today for the first time, I cannot yet give it a 10, but further attention might change my mind. There was so much to absorb. Previous comments have pointed out most of those wonderful attributes: intellect, satire, important topics for discussion, etc. It is clear that a lot of thought went into this film. I guess that's what I liked the most: a great deal of intellectual thought went into it--something that so many of today's movies don't seem to have. I found the montage aspect somewhat unsettling at first, but the various strands in the web did come together well by the end. The end is the aspect on which I wish to focus in this comment.
Remember the famous ending shot from "Planet of the Apes," in which Taylor (Charlton Heston) looks up from the beach and sees the Statue of Liberty sticking out of the sand? That scene brought home the whole truth to us in the audience. Yes, it can happen here! (In the case of that movie, nuclear destruction.) The movie prompted us to constant vigilance against such a threat (or acceptance that we have no control over fate, if you prefer).
My emotional response was similar when I watched the parting shot of "Cradle Will Rock." Note that the final scene is TODAY, not the thirties! (It is also loaded with symbolism.)
First we witness the applause and joy after the play, followed by the interspersing of three separate (but connected) scenes: the dancing players and their audience (with three young children prophetically shouting "the cradle will rock"), the funeral procession of clowns carrying the casket of the dummy (bearing the sign "Federal Theatre. Born 1934; Died 1937. Killed by an act of Congress."), and the scene of the destroyed Rivera mural (focusing on the one remaining piece: the syphilis cell, which Rivera claimed represented the "decadent rich") and its three bored, indifferent workmen, who are resting after the destruction. The final scene is of the funeral procession moving from a dark street of the past into a busy, brightly lit city street of today. The parting shot is of that present scene. First we see a vending box labeled "USA Today," then a crowded sidewalk and street, with a red light and "walk" sign in the center. The first car in our focus is an NYPD cruiser, followed by yellow taxis. Then the camera focuses on an array of huge, brightly lit signboards and logos: Sony Theaters, Hertz, Marriott Marquis, Kodak, Maxell, Suntory Whisky, and others. To the left side of the screen are two American flags. Another sign, high above the flags says "Prove It."
I found this scene almost as profound as the aforementioned scene from "Planet of the Apes." I thought it was such a major point in the movie. It seemed to be trying to prompt us to constant vigilance against an imbalance of power (or to accept the "blowing winds" of fate). Or perhaps I simply read a lot into it.
Digging deeper, I noted that the three scenes each have significant threes: three children, three apathetic workmen, three dummies (puppets). The children might represent possibilities for the future, young instruments ready to be filled with knowledge and understanding. They are linked symbolically with the open-minded bohemian artists. The three dummies (one wooden puppet and two actors representing puppets) represent people, especially ignorant people who allow themselves to be manipulated. They are symbolically linked with death. The three workmen symbolize apathy in the shape of human drones who perform their work without thinking about what they are doing. Interestingly, the workmen managed to destroy all of the mural except the syphilis cell representing the decadent rich. Their apathy frees them from caring that they are allowing the decadent rich to manipulate them and others. Also interestingly, Rockefeller (John Cusack) refers to the cell as a bubonic plague cell.
I thought most of the characters were deliberately painted as gross caricatures, while Diego Rivera, the artist, was portrayed much more carefully--let's say he was a more careful, serious caricature. Important were his arguments about his art as a political statement in the face of using his art to please someone for financial gain. Today it seems that all art, all literature, all science, all law, everything is simply a commodity to be bought and sold. The prostitution of art (and everything else, particularly the media) is such an important aspect of this film.
In one scene Rivera is explaining his mural to Rockefeller. Among the various items is a representation of television. Rivera says, "Television...beamed visual radio! Imagine the potential for education!" Television, in this statement, might represent the various media, in the Aristotelian sense that the purpose of art is to educate and enlighten. Today's media, represented in the final shot of giant signboards and logos, have woefully failed to educate, though they have made masses of people into apathetic puppets and dummies, and they certainly have made a lot of money while failing to educate.
The winners in the film seem to be those who remain open-minded (such as the children and bohemian artists) and do not allow themselves to be manipulated (like the puppets) or apathetic (like the workmen). At any rate, profound or not, "Cradle Will Rock" is a provocative, intellectual film, worth a second, more careful examination.
Remember the famous ending shot from "Planet of the Apes," in which Taylor (Charlton Heston) looks up from the beach and sees the Statue of Liberty sticking out of the sand? That scene brought home the whole truth to us in the audience. Yes, it can happen here! (In the case of that movie, nuclear destruction.) The movie prompted us to constant vigilance against such a threat (or acceptance that we have no control over fate, if you prefer).
My emotional response was similar when I watched the parting shot of "Cradle Will Rock." Note that the final scene is TODAY, not the thirties! (It is also loaded with symbolism.)
First we witness the applause and joy after the play, followed by the interspersing of three separate (but connected) scenes: the dancing players and their audience (with three young children prophetically shouting "the cradle will rock"), the funeral procession of clowns carrying the casket of the dummy (bearing the sign "Federal Theatre. Born 1934; Died 1937. Killed by an act of Congress."), and the scene of the destroyed Rivera mural (focusing on the one remaining piece: the syphilis cell, which Rivera claimed represented the "decadent rich") and its three bored, indifferent workmen, who are resting after the destruction. The final scene is of the funeral procession moving from a dark street of the past into a busy, brightly lit city street of today. The parting shot is of that present scene. First we see a vending box labeled "USA Today," then a crowded sidewalk and street, with a red light and "walk" sign in the center. The first car in our focus is an NYPD cruiser, followed by yellow taxis. Then the camera focuses on an array of huge, brightly lit signboards and logos: Sony Theaters, Hertz, Marriott Marquis, Kodak, Maxell, Suntory Whisky, and others. To the left side of the screen are two American flags. Another sign, high above the flags says "Prove It."
I found this scene almost as profound as the aforementioned scene from "Planet of the Apes." I thought it was such a major point in the movie. It seemed to be trying to prompt us to constant vigilance against an imbalance of power (or to accept the "blowing winds" of fate). Or perhaps I simply read a lot into it.
Digging deeper, I noted that the three scenes each have significant threes: three children, three apathetic workmen, three dummies (puppets). The children might represent possibilities for the future, young instruments ready to be filled with knowledge and understanding. They are linked symbolically with the open-minded bohemian artists. The three dummies (one wooden puppet and two actors representing puppets) represent people, especially ignorant people who allow themselves to be manipulated. They are symbolically linked with death. The three workmen symbolize apathy in the shape of human drones who perform their work without thinking about what they are doing. Interestingly, the workmen managed to destroy all of the mural except the syphilis cell representing the decadent rich. Their apathy frees them from caring that they are allowing the decadent rich to manipulate them and others. Also interestingly, Rockefeller (John Cusack) refers to the cell as a bubonic plague cell.
I thought most of the characters were deliberately painted as gross caricatures, while Diego Rivera, the artist, was portrayed much more carefully--let's say he was a more careful, serious caricature. Important were his arguments about his art as a political statement in the face of using his art to please someone for financial gain. Today it seems that all art, all literature, all science, all law, everything is simply a commodity to be bought and sold. The prostitution of art (and everything else, particularly the media) is such an important aspect of this film.
In one scene Rivera is explaining his mural to Rockefeller. Among the various items is a representation of television. Rivera says, "Television...beamed visual radio! Imagine the potential for education!" Television, in this statement, might represent the various media, in the Aristotelian sense that the purpose of art is to educate and enlighten. Today's media, represented in the final shot of giant signboards and logos, have woefully failed to educate, though they have made masses of people into apathetic puppets and dummies, and they certainly have made a lot of money while failing to educate.
The winners in the film seem to be those who remain open-minded (such as the children and bohemian artists) and do not allow themselves to be manipulated (like the puppets) or apathetic (like the workmen). At any rate, profound or not, "Cradle Will Rock" is a provocative, intellectual film, worth a second, more careful examination.