There are some films that leave me with really mixed feelings. This is one of them.
The Greatest Showman is a musical that's a (very, very, very) fictionalised biography of Phineas Taylor ("P. T.") Barnum, who's famous for starting a now-defunct circus and creating a number of hoaxes. The musical doesn't even try to stick close to history. Notably, instead of showing Barnum's real, unpleasant, "anything-for-money" personality, it portrays him as a jolly, kindly chap who wants to help people.
I recognised exactly one of the actors, so I won't bother listing any of them.
The film begins with one of Barnum's shows. Then it flashes back to how he got there. Unlike in real life, he didn't do this by cheating, lying and exploiting people. Instead, it's a heartwarming tale of how Barnum fell in love, married Charity, the girl he loved, in spite of her parents' objections, and created his circus to give "freaks" (as they were called then) a place to live.
Yeah, right.
Barnum with his wife and daughters.
The story gets further and further away from history from then on. It includes fictitious events like protests against the circus, a "star-crossed lovers" subplot between two people who never actually existed, and a one-sided romance between Barnum and Jenny Lind. And the film muddled the timeline of events so thoroughly that the opening of the circus, Jenny Lind's tour, and the fire at the circus building all apparently happened within months of each other. Wow, if that really happened it would have been the most eventful year in the 19th century.
Jenny Lind
(Side note: the filmmakers apparently forgot the real Jenny was a soprano. They dubbed the actress playing her anyway; would it have been so hard to dub her with a soprano? And Jenny Lind sang opera, not pop music. They should really have had her sing an aria from Lucia di Lammermoor. That would have had some basis in history.)
Some of the circus performers.
Phillip and Annie, the aforementioned star-crossed lovers. Their characters are bland, but their song "Rewrite the Stars" is pretty awesome. Not so much for the lyrics, but for the choreography.
After an arson attack on the circus building, Barnum decides to use a tent for the performances instead. And then we're back where the film started, with one of Barnum's shows. Phillip and Annie get a happy ending, Jenny Lind disappears, and Barnum goes to see his daughter's ballet recital. It's all the sort of glowing sentimentality calculated to make the viewer go "aww".
If only there was some substance behind the show.
My opinion of this film can be summed up in one word: "Kitsch!" (Yes, that is an Elisabeth das Musical reference. Somehow that show has become my standard for judging musicals.)
The Greatest Showman is glittery nonsense from beginning to end. It reminds me of musicals from the 30s and 40s, like Top Hat and White Christmas. Like them, it's full of absurd and implausible things that we're supposed to ignore. But unlike them, it pretends to be a true story. And that's the problem. The Greatest Showman bears as much resemblance to history as Twilight does to Dracula. Yet people who watch this film will get the impression that Barnum was a decent guy and Jenny Lind was a bitch. And that is a gross misrepresentation.
Some people defend the film by saying that it's obviously a fictionalised version of P. T. Barnum, and therefore we shouldn't be upset that it paints over his true colours. Frankly, this argument is nonsense. Take an extreme example, and let's imagine that someone made a musical portraying Stalin as a kindly, well-meaning chap. Would anyone try to defend such a thing by saying "it's just a fictionalised Stalin"? I certainly hope not. Yet somehow people think that argument, when applied to Barnum, makes everything all right.
Some people defend the film by saying that it's obviously a fictionalised version of P. T. Barnum, and therefore we shouldn't be upset that it paints over his true colours. Frankly, this argument is nonsense. Take an extreme example, and let's imagine that someone made a musical portraying Stalin as a kindly, well-meaning chap. Would anyone try to defend such a thing by saying "it's just a fictionalised Stalin"? I certainly hope not. Yet somehow people think that argument, when applied to Barnum, makes everything all right.
I can ignore -- no, enjoy -- the ridiculousness and blatant escapism of the story. I do that every time I watch a Takarazuka production. But the problems with this film are always there. They're much harder to ignore and impossible to enjoy.
Is it available online?: Not as far as I know.
Rating: 3/10.
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