Movie Review- A street car named Desire

Rarely in life, do we get a chance to watch a movie and say, ‘This is fulfillment of a life-time’. ‘A street car named Desire’ is one such movie. The movie has been adapted from a play by Tennessee Williams with the same name. The play has been adapted into different languages throughout the world. The movie has survived the test of times to stay in the all time classics list.

The movie is known for its powerful star cast- Marlon Brando and Vivian Leigh. Ironically it was the supporting cast who walked away with the Oscars. I later read through the production note and came to know that the movie paved for a great debate in Hollywood by questioning many of its pre-conditioned concepts.

The movie is almost shot throughout in a single premise and it resembles a play in terms of scope. As a result the performance has to be the finest to carry the message through. In short it is a play-movie. There is a subtle story telling with the light. The moods of Blanche are shown with various intensities light falling on her. Regarding the screenplay, the moral police of Hollywood acted tough on the ‘objectionable’ scenes. So the director had to tell some powerful parts with some suggestive depiction.

The story is about a well bred Blanche who comes to stay with her sister, Stella. She has to deal with a troublesome past. Stella is married to a couth, Stanley. This sets a tension between fine and refined Blanche and Stanley. Stella finds a comfort in Stanley’s friend , Mitch and wants to settle down with him. But Mitch is dissuaded by Stanley. Stanley makes some investigation into her past and claims that all she said were lies.

Only towards the end does Blanche reveal her side of the story to convince an unwilling Mitch. Blanche meets a tragic end when she is raped by Stanley and turns lunatic. The overall effort by story teller is to point out how a fine and delicate being is destroyed and raped by the cruel forces of society. Then there is Mitch who wanted to marry her initially, then decided that she is ‘too dirty’ for her. But he amorously grabs her for an illicit relationship. In the end Stella who always stood by her husband realizes his cruelty and in the final scene she refuses to go back to him when he calls out for her.

I got a clearer picture on the movie when I went through the production notes. At that time the movie was considered too graphic and against the morality. So director had to make a few concessions for the certificate. Even when the overall intention was good, the moral police simply refused to budge. Today we have got a more liberal system and people have the responsibility to do the censoring.

Please go through this too!