Strictly Ballroom

Strictly Ballroom 

Baz Lurhmann

Australians take their sport very seriously. In the competitive field of Ballroom dancing the world is deadly serious. Why no one thought of making a dramatic comedy about this earlier baffles me. However, I am glad they didn’t because Baz Lurhmann does it with the height of humour and magic that the film is an absolute winner.

 

Lurhmann, was a ballroom dancer himself  thus he knows the world of the eisteddfod and shows it so well through the costume design and the attitudes of the judges and competitors.

 

The opening scenes of swishing skirts, huge fake smiles and perfect poised bodies prancing around the dance floor establishes the mood of the film and until we start to hear the realities of conversation through clenched teeth. One of the male dancers is drunk, the girls are complaining and the boys distracted by their own looks. This regimen of movement and faked tone is beautifully contrast with Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio) original breakaway when during the rumba he steps away from the practiced routine into his own work. Scott the lead champion male at Les Kendall’s dance school, just wants to express his personal emotions through movement. Restricted by the continuously tightening rules of the “sport dance” world he breaks free into improvisation in the opening scenes of the film, which set up his journey for chorographical freedom. This forces his partner to leave the couple and take up with another competitor. Shattering the dreams of the school’s champions to pieces.

 

 

Lurhmann’s first big feature exposes the glitz, glamour and drama in the world of ballroom and his obvious love for dance.

 

The stand out scene for me is when Scott walks Fran home after a night of secret rehearsals, he is brought to the back of the house where Fran’s father, Rico teaches Scott about the passion dance should have through the pasa doble. It rekindles Scott’s hope and love for his dance and sets up the fire that is soon to kindle in Scott and Fran’s relationship both on and off the floor.

 

The subtle theme of bridging the gap between different cultures is touched on through the union of Fran and Scott as they learn about the passion of dance and passion for each other through the film.

 

This film is brave enough to be an amazing film. It takes risks and allows the dance to feature and create the emotion and visual addition that a film needs.

The thing that stands out to me the most about this film is the use of choreographed dance in it to bring emotion to the screen.

 

The film beautifully displays the ballroom word and the characters within it to a tee. It captures the Australian humour and dance world like no other.