After perusing the New Releases walls in my local video store and finding nothing there, I ventured over to the drama section. I happened upon Sophie's Choice and decided to give it a try -- after all, Meryl Streep won best actress for her role, and it only costs $1.50 to rent old movies. Worth a shot, eh?
You bet. I was very pleased with my selection. It has a wonderfully complex story line, and is beautifully acted by Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol (the guy from Ally McBeal -- John Cage, a.k.a. “Biscuit”).
The movie is worth renting simply to witness Streep’s Polish accent. It was really amazing. She plays Sophie, a holocaust survivor, who was wrongly imprisoned. She eventually is freed at the end of the war and finds herself in New York, taking english lessons and thinking she is dying. Turns out she’s just anemic and Kevin Kline takes a liking to her gentle way and beauty, and nurses her back to health. They rent a room in a big house in Brooklyn, and become friendly with MacNicol (“Stingo”) who is a southerner trying to write a novel.
It’s the evolution of the three’s friendship that exposes Sophie’s complex past. We first begin to know her as a simple catholic who was imprisoned for stealing a ham. Eventually we learn she was the daughter of a anti-semetic Polish professor who spewed hate. The climax of her story is when she arrives at Dachau and is forced to choose between her young daughter or son. Only one is allowed to live. This scene comes right at the end of the movie, after our understanding of Sophie is almost complete. It’s this ordeal that we know she went through that completes the puzzle.
This movie is much more than a profile of Sophie, however. We dive into Kline’s schizophrenic life and MacNicol’s wide-eyed naiveté that turns into quiet confidence.
On the surface, it feels like two movies in one. One through Stingo’s eyes in Brooklyn and one through Sophie’s eyes in Nazi Germany. But, upon reflection you begin to understand how Sophie’s experiences in Germany have a profound effect on her life in Brooklyn and how this shapes Stingo’s affection for, and fear of, her.
The movie is 2.5 hours long, but it feels just right. It takes that long to expose the character’s complex motives. Again, Streep’s accent is impeccable and you quickly loose yourself in her character because of it. She definitely deserved the best actress award.
Give this movie a chance. You’ll be sure to enjoy it.
Sophie is the survivor of Nazi concentration camps, who has found a reason to live in Nathan, a sparkling if unsteady American Jew obsessed with the H...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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