Who Will Tell Our Story?

 

“Who Will Tell Our Story?” 

A Review of Hamilton by Nick Olszyk

 

Streaming Service: Disney+

Year: 2020

MPAA Rating, PG-13

USCCB Rating, NR

Reel Rating, Five Reels            

 

            Like anyone who lives in North America, I had heard of the great success of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical Hamilton, which swept the nation in the mid-2010s. I had listened to the soundtrack once and quickly set it aside as difficult to understand. Four years and a pandemic later, Disney released a live recording on their streaming service. While I enjoy early American history, I was tepid about rumors of its racial content, especially considering the recent riots. My fears dissipated in the first few minutes. Hamilton is fantastic, a true masterpiece of musical theater that will no doubt join the ranks of Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady, and The Sound of Music. Similarly, Thomas Kail’s screen adaptation is the best of its genre, being neither overly showy nor minimalistic. This is a presentation one should not miss.

            In tone and narrative, Hamilton is like Jesus Christ Superstar, an operatic biography told from the perspective of an antagonist who seeks to understand the man he killed. It begins in the years before the Revolutionary War, where a young Alexander Hamilton (Lin-Manuel Miranda) spends his university days in the pub dreaming of a free society with his friends. Hamilton joins the war, becomes Washington’s secretary, marries the daughter of a senator, and soon is poised to shape an infant nation. Yet, like a Greek tragedy, his ambition, pride, and lust keep him from greater glory, ultimately becoming more famous for his death than his life.

            There are not many great cinematic presentations of stage productions. As a budding filmmaker, I remember seeing such a production of Cats, which helped the audience get a sense of the musical but also felt distant and artificial. Kail’s presentation is a textbook example of bringing out the best of both genres. First, it is an actual production before a live audience. One hears people laughing, clapping, shouting, and hollering. One hears the necessary pauses and small mistakes that make live theater so thrilling. At the same time, the home audience is treated to close-ups and angles that immerse the viewer in the same manner as a traditional cinematic presentation. The effect was seamless; one has the experience of being in the audience of a play.

            Like the twilight years of Cossack Russia in Fiddler on the Roof or the futile revolts of Les Misérables, Hamilton’s historical background and title character are the means for discussing timeless human problems. Hamilton, like so many, is intensely concerned with his legacy. In his first main song, he insists that he will “not miss his shot.” Yet as life progresses and his family grows, Hamilton finds himself torn between being a “good man” and a “great man.” A good man works hard but also spends time with his family and is not concerned with the things of this world. His wife Eliza (Phillipa Soo) encourages him to be this kind of man:

 

I'm not afraid
I know who I married
So long as you come home at the end of the day
That would be enough

We don't need a legacy
We don't need money
If I could grant you peace of mind

That would be enough

 

Unfortunately, Hamilton decides he wants to be the kind of man who controls his own destiny and dominates the history books by sheer will. To encourage citizens to support the new Constitution and a more centralized government, Hamilton writes fifty-one essays in the span of only a few months. His friends and family complain:

 

How do you write like you're running out of time?
Write day and night like you're running out of time?
Every day you fight like you're running out of time
Like you're running out of time
Are you running out of time?
How do you write like tomorrow won't arrive?
How do you write like you need it to survive?
How do you write every second you're alive?
Every second you're alive? Every second you're alive?

 

The ultimate evidence of his character occurs when his political enemies threaten to reveal a love affair. Rather than be blackmailed, he composes his own expose to the public that illustrates his sins in graphic detail. Finally, rather than retract an insult, he foolishly agrees to a duel and is shot dead.

            It is his wife who manages to secure his legacy. Despite her broken heart, she uses her pain for good:

 

I ask myself, what would you do if you had more time
The Lord, in his kindness
He gives me what you always wanted
He gives me more time

 

I raise funds in D.C. for the Washington Monument
I speak out against slavery.

Oh. Can I show you what I'm proudest of?
I establish the first private orphanage in New York City
I help to raise hundreds of children.

I get to see them growing up
In their eyes I see you, Alexander
I see you every time
And when my time is up.
Have I done enough?
Will they tell your story?

 

The stories that are told by history are always from the perspective of those who tell it. There is a reason the musical is called Hamilton and not Alexander Hamilton, for it is also the story of the story, which is told by Eliza, the one who loved him most. Her love and witness, fifty long years after his death, is what created Alexander’s story, even more so than his actual deeds. We know him because of her love.

            When Hamilton premiered in 2015, much was made of its unorthodox casting. All the American characters were portrayed by late 20^th century ethnic minorities (African, Hispanic, Asian, etc) while sole British character, King George III, was the only Caucasian. Usually, demanding racial casting is unethical, but here it makes thematic sense. Many of the Founding Fathers were immigrants; it is easy to forget that for most of American history Scottish, German, and Irish were considered minorities and 2^nd class citizens. The spirit of the Revolution, to make something new in a new land, is the same spirit that drove MLK. This is not a call for war against “white America,” but a reminder of Preferential Option for the Poor. God identifies and raises up the weak and marginalized. If you are still worried in these troubled times that Hamilton might enable the rioters rather than promote legitimate social justice, the musical has been attacked by extreme left elements for being racist and ahistorical. In my book, that is a seal of approval.

            Considering the vicious attacks on the men and women who formed this country, it is important now more than ever to celebrate their achievements and give thanks for the country they created. Their ideals, rooted in Judeo-Christian ethics, formulated the same freedoms that allow people to criticize them. “Who will tell your story?” It is an important question. If it is Lin-Manuel Miranda, we are in good hands.