Movie moves through plot
with music, randomness
By
Morgan Conklin
Summer Reporter
Bizarre, yet entertaining. Those are three words
that best describe the movie "Moulin Rouge."
The Moulin Rouge is a Paris nightclub filled
with barely dressed women who entertain the male patrons.
Satine (Nicole Kidman), the most sought after
lady at the Moulin Rouge, meets, and falls in love with Christian
(Ewan McGregor).
It is the traditional love story of boy meets
girl; boy and girl fall in love; boy and girl face obstacles together;
boy and girl are forced to part ways.
The plot was not necessarily the reason why people
might choose to see the movie.
It was a weak and predictable story at most,
but the moral of the story was heavily stressed: "The greatest
thing you’ll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return."
Aside from the obvious plot, the audience was
kept entertained with the meaningless lines and endless dance and
singing scenes.
On more than one occasion, the audience could
be heard muttering the words: "Huh?," or "I don’t
get it," but nonetheless, the randomness of the movie seemed
to work.
The music-filled movie was a dizzying collaboration
of choppy filming, and contemporary music set in the early 1900s.
The actors in the movie would spontaneously break
into verse after a line from songs such as Madonna's "Like a Virgin,"
Elton John's "Your Song," Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and
the theme song from "The Sound of Music" were spoken.
That, coupled with the fortuitous lines spouted
by actors not involved with the scene, made me laugh, but wonder what
I was watching.
At one point, Satine and Christian were carrying
on a conversation, when, out of nowhere, another actor came on the
screen to say: "Look at the little frog," and then left.
This line added no substance to the movie, but
had an effect on the audience as they started laughing. Maybe out
of disbelief for what they were watching, or maybe because they thought
it was funny, but either way there was laughter in the theater.
In all, "Moulin Rouge" was an entertaining,
comedy romance that had audiences laughing, as well as feeling empathy
for the characters' tragedy of losing a first love.
4 stars, Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor
