Watched on Amazon Video

America. New York. As early as the overture to the film version of Leonard Bernstein's musical "West Side Story", the metropolis appears in vague outlines before the camera lets us glide directly over the countless streets and rooftops. This New York appears peaceful and orderly from a bird's eye view, like a miniature you can't get enough of. Even if the grey concrete is off-putting in its uniformity, the music announces the almost unlimited possibilities of the big city. The American dream is alive when the Empire State Building rises into the sky.

But the camera that leads us into the canyons of buildings knows little of those skyscrapers with which the sky can be conquered. Instead, we are immersed in a neighbourhood where the houses stand close together and the sports fields are surrounded by high lattice fences. Unexpectedly confining is this America that Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins subsequently capture in moving images - everyone has to fight for their place. At first it is a snap with which the jets spread out in the winding alleys, marking their territory and demonstrating power.

A small, inconspicuous gesture develops into a steadily growing movement until the individual members of the gang roll through the neighbourhood as a dancing wave and put the rival Sharks, who have immigrated from Puerto Rico, in their place. When the American dream comes to life in "West Side Story", it is clear from the beginning that it is not only about freedom, but also about the exercise of power and the conquest of territory, so that the fronts between the rivals harden with every further step.

Here, a generation of teenagers meets, who either feel abandoned by their parents or by their dreams, but can never honestly admit this fact to themselves. Only with scorn and derision do they express what really torments them. The initial sniping soon turns into fisticuffs before knife wounds express the bitter consequences of their rash actions. A flash of light as a final warning - then what no one wanted happens and the streets, which seemed orderly at the beginning, finally turn into a dark labyrinth.

Loneliness and uncertainty spread. No one is supposed to see them cry, the half-breeds who flee across the wet asphalt and end up once again in the confines of a garage, although they thought they had conquered the world. No wonder more and more frustration builds up and coolness fades. Meanwhile, the law in uniform marches right into the dance hall to keep order with an evil eye, but in reality pursues a morality itself that could hardly be more questionable. Thus, for all the perfectly elaborate choreography, a certain ambivalence also remains.

Out of the sunlight, the half-breeds, who are by no means as united in their gangs as they think, retreat into the night, hiding in dark corners and behind walls. An America on the run from its own brokenness manifests itself in the rousing shots of West Side Story, which in all their movements certainly herald a new beginning, but secretly know what a shattering end to this story lies ahead. The dance in absolute light-heartedness above the rooftops is followed by tears in the shadows of loneliness.

With glowing colours, "West Side Story" tells the melodrama that centres on two lovers who discover a glimmer of hope even in the bleakest of backyards and who, with their thoughts, have overcome all the barriers that break down their surroundings. Several times Maria (Natalie Wood) and Tony (Richard Beymer) break out of this embattled New York and find themselves in their own world as the production completely blurs the wild movements around them, creating a magical connection between the lovers.

Despite all the shattering events, "West Side Story" opens up breathtaking spaces for its sincere dreamers that need no conquest and are made solely of colour, music and emotion. An incomparable, unconditional intoxication that seems as naïve as it is innocent, ultimately unable to escape the great tragedy that leaves behind an overwhelming image of speechlessness. At the end, the characters find themselves in the sparse light of a lantern and leave the stage in silence. No snapping, no dancing, no singing. Silence. Who wants to stay in this America?