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Most people regard Schindler's List as the definitive fictional film about the Holocaust. While I can recall the horrors that Spielberg's handheld camera capture of the brutal cleansing of the Warsaw ghetto, I am much more emotionally haunted by Alan Pakula's 1982 adaptation of Sophie's Choice.
There is a scene in Sophie's Choice that is so powerful that it generates tears each time I've seen it and leaves me speechless for several minutes afterwards, even when I've only excerpted that one scene out. And I did that many times when I was teaching units about Holocaust literature to high school students. Universally, it left them in the same condition. So potent is this scene that I had to show it at the end of the period; otherwise, we would have spent the rest of the class silently wiping the tears from our eyes.
I'm not going to describe that scene because that simply wouldn't be fair to anyone who hasn't seen Sophie's Choice. Believe me, you will know what scene I'm talking about when you see it. The film is structured so that we get to know Sophie gradually and she reveals haunting terrible secrets the same way you peel an onion, one layer at a time until we arrive at its devastating center. While the story is involving and personal, and the supporting actors are effective, this is Meryl Streep's vehicle.
Is there another actress on the planet who can bring the buckets of tears more effectively than Meryl Streep? Who else would you pick when you need an actress who can open the tear ducts at will? No method actress conjures up past memories and delivers natural tears on demand like Streep.
She deservedly won the Academy Award for Sophie's Choice in 1982 for bringing on the tears, playing both a naïve girl and a worldly woman, transforming herself into Holocaust victim and survivor, managing to speak with a Polish accent, learning to speak acceptable German, and basically becoming Sophie Zawistowska. I cannot imagine anyone else being able to pull this off, as most any other actress I can think of could only play the character on the surface and gain our sympathies in more stereotypical fashion.
If you doubt the subtlety of Streep's performance examine the early scenes where you can observe her butchering the English language in her amazingly accurate Polish accent. You can even see her "translate" mentally between English and Polish as she is speaking. After working with second language English learners for many years, Streep's performance here continues to leave me in awe of her attention to detail. She is the consummate actress.
From the DVD commentary I also learned that director Alan Pakula gingerly approached Streep just before shooting began with a change in the script that would require her to speak German. Her response: "Get me a German teacher" Without complaining, Streep simply studied German with a tutor and carries it off without a hitch.
While Streep is undoubtedly the star, both Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol deserve credit for making Sophie's Choice work as well as it does. Kline plays Nathan as an unpredictable manic depressive schizophrenic—completely charming and considerate in a scene where he toasts Stingo beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, but can turn into a terrifying abuser in another scene, like the one that plays on Sophie's natural guilt for surviving Auschwitz. As difficult as it is to share a scene equally with Streep, Kline's natural energy and movement pulls this off quite well. Don't expect to see the same raw sex that spices Styron's novel. Instead, you witness believable sensuality between the two.
Often overlooked is Peter MacNicol's characterization of Stingo, which seems a little weird since the story is told from Stingo's point of view over 90% of the time. Overall, this is Stingo's story; it's just that Sophie's story is so tragic and dominant when it's on screen that we forget all about Stingo. However MacNicol plays him as a sweet and naïve young man who suffers a great deal of agony when he discovers how cruel and unjust the world can be. Lest you only remember MacNicol for his lightweight television roles on Ally McBeal, watch him closely in the final scenes. His face inwardly demonstrates his frustration and anger without overplaying it; this is his moment to shine in Sophie's Choice, and he performs perfectly.
Pakula essentially preserves the structure of Styron's novel as it begins with young Stingo's arrival in Brooklyn to begin his journey as an aspiring novel. After settling into a boarding house, he meets a unique couple that offers him alternating support and heartbreak. This is Stingo's initiation into the greater world, and he discovers it is much like the Coney Island roller coaster with its dips and unexpected turns.
While overall this is Stingo's story, a coming of age story of a developing writer, at its central core we become drawn into Sophie's story. As she grows to trust Stingo, we learn of her recent past through a series of flashbacks. Pakula uses an Emily Dickinson poem to frame her story:
Ample make this bed.
Make this bed with awe;
In it wait till judgment break
Excellent and fair.
Be its mattress straight,
Be its pillow round;
Let no sunrise' yellow noise
Interrupt this ground.
The bed reference is key to understanding Sophie's persona. Pakula leaves out the overtly sexual scenes that Styron uses to show us how Sophie copes with her Auschwitz ghosts, but the allusions are still there—how Sophie relies so much on Nathan’s physical love, no matter how badly he may abuse her. Stingo first notices his neighbors upstairs through the ceiling fixture that humorously jiggles when Sophie and Nathan make love upstairs, and Sophie finally reveals her most torturous secret to Stingo while they are sitting on a hotel bed. There will also be another scene to solidify the Dickinson poem within our minds.
Cinematographer Néstor Almendros was nominated for an Academy Award and won the New York Critic's Award for his work in Sophie's Choice. The photography is stunning. Especially notable is how the lighting and quality are altered to differentiate between the present and the flashbacks. Whenever Sophie reverts to her past the color is de-saturated so that it is neither black and white nor fully in color. This is used very effectively here, as it's important for us to realize that we are seeing Sophie's past, so that we aren't totally drawn back into that horrible history.
The camera lighting does a great deal to contrast the present and past Sophie. So much so that it's nearly impossible to believe that the robust modern Streep could be the same woman who portrays a malnourished camp survivor. She appears so pale and ill in the New York library scene, that it's no surprise when she collapses in a heap. While the makeup can account for part of this transformation, the cinematographer deserves some credit as well.
Equally effective is the use of music created by Marvin Hamlisch. Two themes are effectively entertwined throughout the story—both are appropriately melancholy. One is the main theme that we associate with Sophie performed by a small string ensemble, while the other is a haunting tune played on a recorder. This second theme is closely associated with Sophie's daughter, as we see the little girl playing the recorder on the train to Auschwitz.
As he does with All the President's Men, Pakula has directed an effective film that is based on a specific historical event. Some will expect a film that deals with the Holocaust to graphically show Nazi horrors, and will be shocked to find that Sophie's Choice leaves out these elements and only refers to them abstractly.
I find that this is effective. I've seen the horrors in other places. If you want the real sickening stuff, check out the documentary Night and Fog, and there's always Spielberg's comparatively sanitized version. For me, Sophie's Choice provides the emotional core of the horror and shows what a devastating experience that the survivors must deal with.
Others will find the story a bit confusing and manipulative since Peter MacNicol has the thankless task of being the uncharasmatic narrator and the structural protagonist, but gives up this role as we are introduced to Streep's character. This is not a problem for me, but those who are hung up on traditional plot structure will need to do some minor adjustments. Getting past that and allowing yourself to become involved with Sophie's internal struggles will reward you with the devastating picture of emotional abuse. Of course, if you expect an upbeat happy ending, this is not the place to go either.
Some of us vicariously enjoy a good cry. There's not a better film to cry along with Streep that I'm aware of.
Note: If you have the DVD, be sure to watch the film first before watching the excellent 53-minute documentary Death Dreams of Mourning. The documentary will give away "The Scene" in Sophie’s Choice. Of course, if you’ve read the original novel, you are already aware of that coming scene.
Pakula’s commentary is well done. I wish they would do some editing of the sound; however, because his voice and the movie soundtrack blend in closely together often making it difficult to understand either one. |
