The hills are alive as “The Sound of Music” turns 60 this month. Starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, this stage adaptation has not yet said goodbye as it’s as popular as ever.

The story takes place in 1938 in Salzburg, Austria, right before the Anschluss happens. The Anschluss was the annexation of Austria into the German Reich. 

This movie, while majorly bright and cheerful with all its songs, includes a Nazi and pre-World War II subplot, primarily towards the end. 

The movie is loosely based on the real-life Von Trapp family, a singing group composed of siblings Maria and the Captain. 

Julie Andrews plays Maria, a carefree woman who is training to be a nun at the start of the movie. Maria, however, is too much of a troublemaker for the other nuns, as stated a lot during the song “Maria” sung by the nuns while she is missing. 

One thing leads to another and the head nun, Mother Abbess, sends Maria to Captain Von Trapp’s home to be their governess.

Maria was put in charge of seven “troublemaking” children who did anything they could to get their father to notice them, going as far as to ruthlessly prank all 11 previous governesses they had. 

Captain Von Trapp, better known throughout the movie as just Captain, lost his wife several years before the events of the movie. After these events, he became strict and detached from the kids and removed fun and laughter from their household until Maria arrived to revive all of that. 

Thanks to the composer duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein, the musical has some of the most famous songs in history such as “Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Sixteen Going On Seventeen” and “So Long, Farewell.” 

Speaking of songs, most of the songs happen during act one of the movie, the second act having some but most, if not all, are reprises of songs performed in the first act. 

The second act pivots from the happy and confident Maria and family to the result of the German annex. The movie does a good job showcasing the pivot because of the lack of music and how the movie looks as the scenes seem darker than in the first act. 

There are a lot of moments throughout the movie, however, where it was helpful to know and understand the history of the time and even some of the language. 

Throughout the movie, there were even some scenes where a character would throw up a Nazi salute, something obviously taboo after World War II. 

The main conflict in the second half of the movie is when Captain gets a letter that tells him he must accept a position in the Navy of the Third Reich, even though Captain explicitly opposed the Nazis and anything to do with the annexation. 

While the movie came out half a century ago, it still holds up. While it’s considered a historical fiction movie, it teaches the audience a lot about the Von Trapp family and Austria during the Anschluss and, as stated before, the music is still extremely well known. 

“The Sound of Music” is available to watch on Disney+ and Hulu. I have confidence you will find yourself singing along to the music and having fun along the way. 

Categories: Arts & Entertainment