Hamilton review

 

About 12 years ago, after In the Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda decided to take a break and he looked “for a big, fat book to read on vacation”. That’s when he stumbled upon Ron Chernow’s book about Alexander Hamilton’s life. And that’s how Hamilton was born. The musical opened on Broadway on August 6th, 2015. “Hamilton” was immediately a huge success being a real cultural phenomenon. Unlike most musicals, Hamilton was a hip-hop musical, capturing the life of Alexander Hamilton, a little-known Founding Father.  

From King’s George (Johnathan Groff) introduction to the intermission between the two acts, the movie captures beautifully the theatre experience. Even though it’s filmed theatre, the camera drifts across the stage, focusing on different characters. Thomas Kail mixes in overhead shots to capture the light pattern on the floor and the amazing choreography and close-ups to highlight actors’ performances. Most musical numbers end with the camera tilted slightly up adding to the elegant and solemn postures. You have to get used to the movie’s style though. The staging is minimalist and the choreography very intricate. The music is not exactly like in the cast recording. There are two F-words edited and some lines which sound slightly different (Anthony Ramos’ voice at the beginning of “Satisfied” for example).   

The plot revolves around Alexander Hamilton (Lin-Manuel Miranda), an orphan-immigrant who tries to gain other important people’s respect. Unlike Hamilton, who is relentless, arrogant, wants to achieve everything, and stands by his ideals no matter what, Aaron Burr (Leslie Odom Jr.) is patient, more malleable, and chooses to wait for the best opportunity. After becoming George Washington’s (Christopher Jackson) right-hand man, Alexander marries Elizabeth Schuyler (Philipa Soo). The love-at-first-sight story is depicted in Eliza’s song “Helpless”. We revisit the story in Angelica’s (Renee Elise Goldsberry) “Satisfied” from her point of view. The story changes depending on the one who narrates it. This is a motif that returns throughout the movie (in “The world was wide enough” for example). We can sense the characters’ development in their songs, in their behaviours. Because of all the bad decisions and tragic events in his life, Hamilton becomes more reticent, on the other hand, Burr becomes more and more confident. The two characters live side by side, the contrast between them and their relationship being two of the main interests of the movie.   

Although the facts are mostly historically accurate the plot is intriguing and not at all dull. Characters like Marquis De Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson (both played by Daveed Diggs) add a fresh and nonchalant feeling to the whole musical. During the second act, Daveed’s charisma along Jonathan Groff’s performance are used as comic relief. Maria Reynolds (Jasmine Cephas Jones) and John Laurence (Anthony Ramos) are crucial side characters that actually influence many of Hamilton’s actions. Every character is well structured and has a very well-defined arc. The story is told through a collection of 46 songs that are not only unfailingly smart but also funny and entertaining. The songs are full of intelligent references, from Shakespear’s Macbeth to Jay Z and actual quotes from the Founding Fathers.   

Even though this is not a Hamilton movie per se, this film succeeds in highlighting all the actors’ performances and keeping the light projected on the human side of the characters. It also brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it. This movie blows me away and I can’t say no to it. So... I’m taking the horse by the rains and I’m not throwing away my shot to watch it again.