Un violon sur le toit

Opening with the wonderful song "Tradition" which is the overriding theme of the entire musical, with its comedy and its pain, this film is a charming, sentimental telling of the lives and tribulations of a family. The beauty of it is that despite occasional violence against a people, they maintain their spirit through the ages. It's about what every father believes, "There is no one adequate to marry my daughter." Things happen and people get knocked down, and eventually everyone gets to his feet once more. There is the combative relationship between Tevye and his wife, and their love ("but do you love me") that goes pretty much unstated. In the end they continue to stand tall together because what they have put into the world is true love, not the overly dramatic, silly love that permeates our world today. See the movie. See the stage play. You will always leave with an optimistic spring in your step, and wonderful songs in your heart.

I LOVE this musical but I weep a little always for the Yiddish culture lost forever. The world is so much poorer.

I apologise for straying from the artistic merit to linger on the loss to Humanity

Nevertheless this film is a permanent record of the fact that we enjoyed a wondrous Yiddish culture in our midst in Europe but after a series of Pogroms culminating in the Holocaust the heart was ripped out of our culture here in Europe

The music, the humour, the humanity, gone forever from the Heart of Europa. Europe's loss

Irish Gentile

Rarely a film so authentic. I saw several movies by Norman Jewison, Moonstruck(1987), ... and justice for all.(1979), F.I.S.T.(1978), Rollerball(1975), The Cincinnati Kid(1965), Bogus(1996), Other People's Money(1991), Only You(1994). I saw also two masterpieces by the same Norman Jewison: Jesus Christ Superstar(1973) and In the Heat of the Night(1967). Fiddler on the Roof(1971) it's his most successful and fulfilled film, in my opinion. The actors are downright amazing: Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, Paul Mann, Rosalind Harris (exceptional), Michele Marsh, Neva Small. The music is very beautiful. There are many movies which lasts only 90 minutes, but you want to finish faster, they are so bad; Fiddler on the Roof it lasts 180 minutes, but you do not want to end.

The story took place in the village of Russia, 1904. It centered around the leading role, Tevya, who was diaryman. Tevya was a enlightened old man, he had open-minded thought and he deeply loved his three daughters. When he looked into the future of the daughters who were unmarried, he always sang the song "If I am the rich" very kindly, because he fervently expected that they got a bright future.

In the beginning, Tevya was trying to marry off Tzietel, the oldest daughter. The matchmaker found her a matcher in Lazar Wolfm the butcher. However, the butcher was much older than Tzietel, and she didn't love him. she loved a poor tailor, and they promised to each other that they would get married. At last Tevya said yes to them. Meanwhile the second child Hodel, and a poor student also fell in love soon, and they got engaged. They informed her father this and he gave them permission to be married. The poor student was arrested for demonstrating, and was sent to a distant prison, Hodel left to join there. Last, the last daughter , Chava and Fyedka fell in love. Chava told Tevya, and he was outraged, because she wanted to marry out of the faith. She got married anyway, and Tevya disowned her. Soon after that, all of the Jewish people in Anatevka got a notice to move out. And that's the end of the play. Ir's a kind of sad ending.

"Fiddler On the Roof" is the stage-to-screen adaptation of the famous musical. It tells the story of Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman in the tiny Russian village of Anatevka. This role is played by Topol, who played the character onstage in the London production of "Fiddler." We see him as a man mired in traditions, but struggling between his devout faith and the changing times when three of his daughters feel the urge to marry. The movie is beautifully shot, and tempers the story, which deals with the harsh realities of Jewish life in pre-Revolutionary Russia, with classic musical numbers sure to put a smile on your face. Between its incarnations on the stage and on screen, "Fiddler" will be immortal.