Ok, so the first thing to acknowledge is that it is just the most fun to watch. I don't think it was even skewed by our long absence from the theaters - the music and the dance numbers are so brimming with life and joy that I often found that I was grinning, purely from the enjoyment of it.
These joyful numbers and endearing characters tell a story of community and hope. I know firsthand (and much to my surprise) how beautiful and beloved a city can become when it's populated by a community that makes you know you belong. A place where people see you as you are and they honor and love you anyway, a place where you've grown into more of yourself, a place in which you're truly and wholly at home is a place whose worth is difficult to express. Which is, I'm sure, a contributing factor to how I felt about this love letter to the neighborhood of Washington Heights in NYC and its ability to express what it feels like to be in a place like that.
But beyond that, there was also a very strong aspirational element to this portrait of community. Not that it's perfect or anything. But the resilience, the joy, and the generous outpouring of time and attention on others are qualities I deeply admire and aspire to.
No scene better exemplifies these traits the "Carnival de Barrio" - when everyone has been getting bogged down by the heat, the blackout, and every shade of adversity that has been pounding at their community. The number begins with one woman calling them to action and swells to a complete ensemble singing and dancing and choosing to face the difficult future with hope:
Alright we are powerless, so light up a candle! There's nothing going on here that we can't handle! Maybe you're right, Sonny. Call in the coroners Maybe we're powerless A corner full of foreigners Maybe this neighborhood's changing forever Maybe tonight is our last night together However! How do you wanna face it? Do you wanna waste it When the end is so close you can taste it? Y'all go cry with your head in the sand I'm a fly this flag that I got in my hand!
(That and, of course, "Alabanza" where the entire community comes together to honor and bless a life that was poured out for them and to entrust her soul to God.)
And really at the end of the day, I can't add much to the actual lyrics:
Where it's a hundred in the shade But with patience and faith We remain unafraid I'm home!
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