With qualities and many problems, it is a film that proves that the Oscars do not make films immortal or more significant.
It's hard for me to believe how this film dominated the 1972 Oscar ceremony. That night, it proved to be a devourer of statuettes in a head-to-head duel with “Godfather”, Coppola's greatest work, winning eight awards: Best Original Soundtrack, Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Actress (for Liza Minelli) and Best Supporting Actor. I know that a lot of people like to detract from the Oscars and I agree with some of their arguments, but it will be an award to be taken into account as long as it is the most prestigious cinematographic award in the world. And let's face it: eight Oscars is a lot. After seeing the film, however, I started to think that, despite his qualities, he may have been too lucky.
The film gives Liza Minelli everything she needs to shine as a top star, even though until then she could barely call herself an actress: apart from a few minor roles, she had only made two films and none of them left any relevant memory. Without much effort and with everything helping, she shows us great commitment, charisma and presence, absolutely dominating the scene. She deserves an applause and her work makes the film better. The film also features the hard-working and committed participation of Joel Grey, as the cabaret presenter. The rest of the cast is much weaker, with some actors, such as Marisa Berenson and Michael York, being particularly irritating.
Set in Berlin in the 1930s, it has good sets and costumes, managing to give us the flavor of the time and of moral decadence and the desire to escape the reality experienced in some parts of society. The cabaret is, therefore, a surreal bubble where reality does not exist. For this reason, the film fails to convey the idea of the growing popularity of the Nazis. As a musical, it's unlike any I've ever seen. In a film like “Mary Poppins”, for example, the music accompanies the action and the story doesn't stop because the characters sing and dance instead of walking and talking. Here, the songs interrupt the action and, sometimes, they do so in an unpleasant way, as if it were an intermission. To make things more difficult, the songs are uninteresting, ugly and don't stick with the ear. The film contains some nudity and touches on difficult themes (sex, abortion, homosexuality and prejudice), so it is completely unsuitable for very young children.
The biggest problem with the film is, for me, the story we are told and the fact that there isn't a single character capable of arousing any empathy. Sally, Minelli's character, is an irresponsible, self-centered, futile and toxic creature in every way, and the story told is ugly, self-indulgent, excessively bizarre and seems disorganized, very confusing and disjointed, a patchwork. surreal. Perhaps this explains why, despite the awards collected, and the qualities mentioned, this film ended up being forgotten, being unknown to most people who didn't see it at the time.
