Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this is an outstanding family film, filled with glorious music ("Do-Re-Mi," "My Favorite Things," "Edelweiss, "So Long, Farewell"), a real-life love story right out of Jane Eyre, a courageous moral choice, and a heart-stopping escape. Some kids may want to know more about the Nazis and why the Captain makes the choice to escape with his family. Younger ones won't notice that the film takes place at a turbulent time in history.
Families can talk about the movie's theme and plot points. Why does Maria have a problem fitting in at the abbey? What does the Captain learn from Maria? What is the difference between the way the Captain, Max, and Rolfe react to the Nazis? What does the song, "Climb Every Mountain" mean? The people who wrote the song about "My Favorite Things" also wrote "Whistle a Happy Tune" in The King and I. How are the two songs alike (think about when Maria sings the song)? If you were going to write the song, what would be on your list of favorite things?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Nell Minow
This beloved musical filled with glorious songs ("Do-Re-Mi," "My Favorite Things," "Edelweiss, "So Long, Farewell") is the fictionalized love story of Maria von Trapp (Julie Andrews), a family's courageous moral choice, and their heart-stopping escape.
As a postulant, Maria is "not a credit to the abbey." While she means well, she is constantly in trouble. The wise Mother Abbess sends her away to be the governess for the seven children of a stern widower, Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer). Obedient to their disciplinarian father, the children are uncooperative with Maria until she wins them over with her own high spirits, as well as her kindness. She also shares her love of music and teaches the children to sing.
The Captain's friend Max hears the children sing, and wants them to perform at the local festival. The stern Captain refuses -- at first. But when the Captain hosts a ball, he begins to notice a certain singing governess more than he should (he's been wooing an uppity baroness and had intended to propose). At the same time, Nazi sympathizers are moving into his beloved Austria and getting read to take over -- and he'll be expected to join them. In the end, he chooses a different bride than society would expect, and entering the singing contest turns into the perfect means of escape from the Nazis.
This movie has plenty for hopeless romantics to enjoy -- especially the sweet song, "Something Good," that the Captain sings to Maria. It also effectively works in the tension and foreboding of the time period. Everyone in Austria has to make a choice when the Nazis arrive. The beau of Liesl, the Captain's oldest daughter, becomes so committed to the Nazis that he's willing to betray the young woman he cared for. Even the nuns in the abbey must make a choice. It's worth discussing with older kids why this was such a tense time and why the von Trapps made the painful decision to flee the country they loved.
Kids who enjoy this movie may also enjoy Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins or other Rogers and Hammerstein classics like The King and I and Oklahoma! You can also read more about the real-life family in one of the books written by Maria von Trapp, and visit the family's lodge in Stowe, Vermont. Find Austria, Germany, and Switzerland on a map, but do not try to trace the family's escape route. If they had climbed over the same mountains they climbed in the movie, they would have ended up in Germany.
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Sexual ContentPlenty of innocent romance. |
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ViolenceTension as the family escapes from the Nazis. One character points a gun at the von Trapps. |
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Social Behavior"Climb every mountain, ford every stream/Follow every rainbow, till you find your dream" sums it up. |
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