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Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
In Norman Jewison's film adaptation of the beloved
Broadway musical and based upon Sholom Aleichem's stories, during
the pre-Revolutionary period in Russia (1905), about a Jewish peasant
with three marriageable daughters:
- the entire opening/titles sequence, set in the Ukranian
ghetto village of Anatevka as the sun rose - and the opening words
of poor Jewish-Russian peasant milkman in a small Ukranian village
in pre-Revolutionary Russia - the life-affirming Tevye (Topol)
as he began his route to deliver milk: ("A fiddler on the
roof. Sounds crazy, no? But here, in our little village of Anatevka
you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof. Trying
to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck.
It isn't easy. You may ask why do we stay up there if it's so dangerous?
Well, we stay because Anatevka is our home. And how do we keep
our balance? That I can tell you in one word! Tradition!...Because
of our traditions, we've kept our balance for many, many years.
Here in Anatevka, we have traditions for everything. How to sleep.
How to eat. How to work. How to wear clothes. For instance, we
always keep our heads covered, and always wear a little prayer
shawl. This shows our constant devotion to God. You may ask, how
did this tradition get started? I'll tell you. I don't know. But
it's a tradition. And because of our traditions, every one of us
knows who he is and what God expects him to do")
- the ending of the joyous and lively song/dance "Tradition" about
the conflict between traditional values and modern industrial changes:
("Traditions, traditions. Without our traditions our lives
would be as shaky as... as a fiddler on the roof!"); Tevye
pointed to a fiddler on the roof in the dawning reddish sun, before
the credits played
- Tevye's song: "If I Were a Rich Man" - his
dreams of wealth: ("If I were a rich man. Yubby dibby dibby
dibby dibby dibby dibby dum All day long I'd biddy biddy bum. If
I were a wealthy man..."), when he found out that his milk-cart
horse was lame
- the singing of "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" by
Teyve's five daughters (three were marriageable), who were speculative
about what news would be brought by the village's traditional matchmaker
Yente (Molly Picon)
- the scene of the Jewish wedding of Tevye's eldest
daughter Tzeitel (Rosalind Harris) and her childhood friend, poor
tailor Motel Kamzoil (Leonard Frey), and the wistful song of Tevye
and his wife Golde (Norma Crane) during the ceremony: "Sunrise,
Sunset" ("Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the
little boy at play? I don't remember growing older. When did they?
When did she get to be a beauty? When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday when they were small? Sunrise, sunset. Sunrise,
sunset. Swiftly flow the days. Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers.
Blossoming even as we gaze")
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"If I Were a Rich Man"
"Matchmaker, Matchmaker"
"Sunrise, Sunset"
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