Tear Jerker / West Side Story (2021)

"Krupke, we've got troubles of our own!"

Warning: Moments pages are spoilers-off.

• As always, Tony's death. It hits especially hard this time because María actually sees Chino coming up behind him and screams, "No!" just before he pulls the trigger. Even more-so in this version his love for María is so strong he keeps walking towards her, that Chino has to shoot him a second time before he finally collapses from his wounds.
  • Before that, the way Tony completely breaks down when Valentina tells him the false news that Chino shot María. Unlike Doc in the other versions, she manages to tell him in a calm and caring tone, gently caressing his face while she does so, but it's not enough and he runs onto the street in complete anguish. It was shown that he felt a lot of guilt and self-loathing for nearly killing someone a year ago and actually killing Bernardo caused those feelings to increase tenfold, with María being the only reason he wants to continue living. Now, with her seemingly dead, he feels he has nothing left and just wants to be put out of his misery.
  • When Tony is on the street screaming for Chino to come kill him, we see Chino emerging from the ruins of a building nearby. He hasn't done a single act of violence in the entire film, and he's clearly terrified by what he's about to do. But he sees no other way to avenge Bernardo. When he hands the gun to María, it's like he wants her to kill him first.
  • The fact that this time, Riff buys the gun that ends up killing Tony. He brings it to the rumble so that the Jets will have serious firepower but gives it to Tony. Anybodys takes it out of his hand and tosses it aside as they flee, where Chino finds it and picks it up on his way out.
  • How miserable and worn down both the Jets and Sharks look as they carry Tony's body back to Doc's.
  • Because "Somewhere" is given to Valentina in this version, the last thing María sings to Tony as he dies is a reprise of "Tonight," which makes the scene even more tragic.
    Only you, you're the only thing I'll see, forever.
    In my eyes, in my words and in everything I do,
    Nothing else but you,
    Ever.
  • "Te adoro, Anton."
• María's speech at the end of the film, in which she threatens to kill everyone and herself, but can't bring herself to do so. She's also clearly shaking just holding the gun.
  María: How do you fire it? Just by pulling this? (puts her finger on the trigger and points the gun at Chino) How many bullets are left? Enough for you?! (points to Ice) And you?! (points to Diesel) ALL OF YOU!!! (points to the rest of the Sharks and the Jets) I can kill now because I hate now! (voice breaking) I hate now. How many can I kill, Chino, AND STILL HAVE ONE BULLET LEFT FOR ME?!!
• "Jet Song" has an added layer of tragedy in this version. It ends with the Jets standing on a pile of construction rubble after singing about their dominance over the neighborhood. In truth, the gang is on borrowed time as their territory is being torn down to make room for more affluent residents.
• Chino's entire arc in the film counts. He starts off as an intelligent, thoughtful person who has a job and is studying accounting at night school. It's clear that despite the prejudice Puerto Ricans face in America, he has a bright future ahead of him and will accomplish what many consider The American Dream. He isn't even overtly hostile to Tony and helps him get into the salt shed when he arrives late to the rumble. If you look closely, Chino desperately tries to stop Bernardo from beating him up. However, Bernardo's death at the rumble proves to be too much for him to handle, and, thanks to his grief and hatred for the "gringos", he throws it all away to get revenge.
  • You can clearly see the moment in which he snaps when the first thing María asks him is if Tony's okay. Not her brother, but her lover.
  • The senior members of the Sharks are shocked to find that he has a gun, and Quique even tries to talk him out of hunting Tony, telling him that it's not worth throwing away his entire life for revenge.
    Quique: Eso es verdad.^*It's true. It's a big world. Bernardo let the gringos tell him there's only this barrio, these twenty bad blocks. Pero Chino, pana,^*But Chino, buddy, don't you do what Bernardo did. You kill a gringo, they kill you.
    Chino: Sooner or later, the gringos kill everything.
    Quique: Chino, Chino, por favor, Bernardo no te dejaría hacer eso. Y, y María...^*Chino, Chino, please, Bernardo wouldn't let you do this. And, and María...
    Chino: Don't follow me.
    • The script direction as he walks away is "The darkness swallows him."
  • As the rumble turns into an all-out brawl, Chino is only clutching Bernardo's dead body, clearly terrified of the violence around him. The last thing he says to Bernardo's body is "Que Dios te bendiga." or "God bless you."
  • The most tragic part of Chino's arc is that the whole reason he gets involved in the first place is because he feels he needs to join in the fighting to help the Puerto Rican community so that he will be respected. However, it's clear throughout the film that everyone already likes and respects him for his intelligence and hardworking nature and he doesn't need to prove anything to them.
• Tony gazing out at what, in a few short hours, will be his final sunset during "Tonight (Quintet)."
• Anita's near-rape is even more traumatic. It starts when Anybodys passes her; he gives her a concerned look and warns her to leave. When the Jets start their harassment, Graziella openly begs for them to leave Anita alone. Hearing this Anita reaches out for help, and Graziella reaches back trying to pull her to safety—if you watch carefully , you'll see that Graziella actually does manage to grab hold of her before one of the Jets forcefully separates them—before the boys lock her and the other girls outside. Fruitlessly, the girls scream and pound against the doors, tears streaming down their faces, trying to plead for Anita. When Valentina intervenes, a shell-shocked Anita calls her a traitor for hiding Tony, who murdered Bernardo.
  Valentina: I know you. I know all of your names. Since you was born, I watched you grow up. You have grown up into rapists. You dishonor yourselves. You dishonor your dead!
  • The experience proves to be the last straw for Anita, who declares that she is done with the treatment she has gotten in America and will be going back to Puerto Rico. To see the person who had sung an entire song about how much she loves the opportunities the country has given her become so traumatized that she wants to flee the country is a depressing sight to see.
    Snowboy: Go back where ya came from.
    Anita: You think I want to stay here in a city full of ugly little animals like you? No, gracias. Yo no soy americana. ¡Yo soy puertorriqueña! ^*No thank you! I am not American. I am Puerto Rican!
• During their date, Tony tells María about how he nearly killed a kid during a rumble with the Egyptian Kings, showing just how much remorse he has for what he did.
  Tony: The first time I saw this place, I was on a prison bus. Up to the state prison, in Ossining. There was a rumble. And I busted up this kid, he was in the Egyptian Kings. He only didn't die because of luck, like, one more punch and he probably woulda died. And I woulda done it, I woulda murdered this messed-up kid who wasn't no different from me. And for a year, in prison and, and since I got out, I can't quit thinkin' about what I almost done. I think about killin' him, and it's like I'm always just about to fall off the edge of the world's tallest building. I stopped fallin' the second I saw you.
  • Throughout the film, Riff waves off Tony’s guilt about the incident and doesn’t understand why Tony refuses to fall back into the gang lifestyle. But when Tony began to beat a pinned-down Bernardo, Riff looks terrified and is a second away from stepping in to stop Tony from repeating his mistake. Riff finally gets what Tony was trying to avoid… but it’s too late now.
• While it's also a comedic moment, Krupke finding out that the Jets have wrecked his police station is rather pitiable. He's been desperately trying to help them better themselves, only to arrive just as they finish an entire song devoted to mocking him. The poor guy doesn't even have it in him to ream them out over this. He just takes in the mess they made without saying a word, almost like he's lost all hope of ever redeeming the gangs.
  • During the song, Baby John, who was shown to be uncomfortable with the whole situation, begins to play along, singing the last verse instead of Diesel, while the others cheer him on. Yes it's supposed to be funny, but the fact remains, this young boy is starting to succumb to the effects of peer pressure and is falling in deeper with the wrong crowd.
  • "Gee, Officer Krupke" is fast-paced and comedic, but the lyrics are about how the social programs fail to actually help troubled youth from falling into crime, something that still rings true today. While the song starts off light-hearted, by the end the Jets' tones have completely shifted to anger and aggression, showing just how frustrated they are by the way they have been treated both at home and by the system.
• Riff's death. The film hints that he's a Death Seeker, like when the bartender holds the gun on him and he presses his forehead against the barrel, trying to goad him into pulling the trigger. After he's stabbed by Bernardo, he has a few moments to say "It's okay. It's okay."
  • In the script, it's mentioned that, in his final moments, Riff was able to see a future for the first time in his life, but by then, it was too late.
• While Riff's delinquency and bigotry towards the Puerto Ricans is clearly wrong and in no way justifiable, it's still hard not to sympathize with him even a little bit as he laments how his neighborhood, his lifelong home and only source of comfort, is slowly being taken away from him thanks to the arrival of the Puerto Ricans and development of Lincoln Center.
  Riff: I don't know who I am, and who cares who I am? Nobody, includin' me. I know that this dust that's covering everything now? That's the four-story buildings that was standing here when you went upstate a year ago. You know, I wake up to everything I know either gettin' sold or wrecked or bein' taken over by people that I don't like. And they don't like me. And you know what's left, outa alla that? The Jets. My guys. My guys who're just like me. (slams a can down in front of Tony) Who are just like you.
  • Earlier in the Prologue, the Jets vandalize one of the Puerto Rican restaurants by tearing down its sign and revealing it used to be an Irish bar. Again, while it's clear their actions are inexcusable, it's understandable why they feel their community is being taken away from them.
    • If you know the history surrounding Ireland, it adds even more weight to their backstory. Ireland was oppressed by the British for centuries, and the previous century had experienced a horrific famine that left 1.5 million dead and the same number emigrating to England or America. The Jets' parents and grandparents were likely those who were driven out of their country by oppression, and it can probably feel like the same is happening to them. If only they'd had empathy for the Puerto Ricans experiencing the same thing.
  • In between Riff's speech, Tony's story about realizing the Egyptian King he was fighting was just like him, and the ongoing gentrification of the entire neighborhood, the film emphasizes that the gangs fight so viciously because they're all being trampled underfoot by people they can't fight, so they take it out on each other because it's the only thing they can do.
• "Cool" has a whole new, tragic context. Unlike both the musical and the 1961 film in which Riff/Ice advise the Jets to keep a level head despite their rage, in this version Tony is horrified to discover that Riff has bought a gun, and the entire number he is trying to talk some sense in him, only for Riff to reclaim it with deaf ears to his best friend's warnings.
  • The moments before the song, where the Jets play with their newly acquired gun, are played for comedy, but it's also a tragic reminder that these are basically still kids who are going to have their childhoods ripped away in a few hours.
  • The script makes it's clear that this is the point where Riff finally realizes Tony really isn't coming back to the gang and the old days are truly done. While the other Jets mock Tony by shouting "Pow!" as they shoot their fingers at Tony, Riff's is much more reserved and bitter to illustrate how heartbroken he is.
    Riff: ♫ Just play it cool, boy. Real cool. ♫
    Ice: Pow!
    Numbers: Pow!
    Action: Pow, pow!
    Tiger: Pow!
    Riff: (beat) Pow.
  • If you look closely, Riff has tears in his eyes as he fights Tony for the gun, clearly not wanting to have to overpower him and heartbroken that he's actively going against him.
• During "America," the line "Lots of doors slamming in our face!" is given to a group of Puerto Rican protesters condemning their forced relocation in favor of New York's gentrification projects. One of the signs even mentions Robert Moses, who was responsible for displacing a number of low-income ethnic communities in favor of constructing Lincoln Center and highways in Manhattan.
• Bernardo's reaction to killing Riff has always been on of horror, but here he starts bawling his eyes out as he realizes what he's done. All that charismatic bravado we saw throughout the film has evaporated and what's left is a terrified, guilt-ridden young man.
  • Even if Tony didn't kill Bernardo immediately after, Bernardo's life as he knew it was over. He would now be targeted by the cops for killing Riff and either arrested or forced on the lam, effectively ending his promising boxing career and dreams of success.
• As everyone flees the salt shed once the police sirens start, Anybodys runs over to Tony kneeling over Riff's body. He's actually holding the gun before Anybodys takes it out of his hand and tosses it aside. For a moment, it looks like Tony is contemplating killing himself over what he has done.
• Because "I Feel Pretty" keeps its place in the musical after the rumble, there's an implication that it takes place while the rumble is actually happening. At the end of "Tonight (Quintet)," María is shown getting off the subway near Gimbels. When "I Feel Pretty" begins, the women are still changing into their work uniforms and putting away their valuables into lockers, and afterwards, it cuts to the end of their work shift. María was singing about her love for Tony...while he was killing her brother.
• Anita being brought to the morgue to identify Bernardo. The first body they show her is actually Riff, and you can see a momentary burst of hope in her eyes that maybe her boyfriend isn't dead after all.
  • The scene description in the script: "The coroner covers Riff, then leads Anita to a second gurney. He uncovers Bernardo to the neck. Anita looks. Her grief washes over her and carries her away."
  • After that scene, whenever Anita is momentarily alone, she's shaking and barely able to speak, obviously with no idea what to do now.
• During "Tonight (Quintet)," Anita sets a cup full of roses on the dining table for when Bernardo arrives. When she returns to the apartment after identifying him at the morgue, they're still there while she desperately tries to compose herself.
• Anybodys has always been excluded from the Jets, but he's extra sympathetic here given they treat the poor guy like he's a freak just because he's trans, refusing to even call him a boy. And it's not just the Jets, we see others are disgusted by him too, just because he doesn't hide his true self.
  • Anybodys's introduction definitely counts. As the Jets arrived at their target — a Puerto Rican flag mural overlooking a public space — Anybodys suddenly appears, smiling and eager to join in. Riff takes one look at him, and simply says "Beat it."
    • He gets knocked over as the Sharks rush at the Jets, showing that no one has any regard or respect for him.
  • During "Jet Song," Anybodys tries to tag along, but is repeatedly brushed aside by the Jets. During the line, "Little boy, you're a man/Little man, you're a king," they run off and leave him behind. The look on his face shows a clear desire to belong somewhere as his true self.
  • During the dance, Anybodys starts dancing with one of the Jet girls, only for her boyfriend to scream "Get away from her, you lesbo!", making it clear that even if he identified as a girl, he'd still be subject to abuse from the gang.
  • At the police station, A-Rab mentions that he pantsed Anybodys once to confirm that, in his transphobic words, "she's a girl." The look on Anybodys' face shows that he's extremely hurt and embarrassed by that incident, which makes it cathartic when he starts to beat the crap out of A-Rab.
  • In the script, it says that, after Ice calls Anybodys "buddy boy," even though Anybodys smiles at this, it is for "something he no longer wants."
• Bernardo's death is even more tragic this time around. He actually has some success going on in his new home, being a strong boxer on the rise. Not only did he have an advancing career, but he was also regarded as a hero amongst his people for defending them from the Jets' bigotry. Between a potentially lucrative future and his great leadership skills, Bernardo truly could've been somebody, but instead he couldn't see past his hate and all that great potential goes down the drain with his untimely demise.
  • María learning about Bernardo's death from Chino, and that Tony killed him. Bernardo may have been overly protective of her, but he was still her brother. The film also implies that both of their parents are dead, meaning he was her only remaining family. María's denial at hearing this is heart-wrenching.
• Schrank's awful treatment of Anita and María. The former lost the love of her life, the latter lost her only family left. And the asshole treats them like shit throughout the whole questioning, not showing even a shred of decency to the two heartbroken women.
• After the rumble, the remaining Jets regroup in Valentina's shop. An unusually somber Diesel mentions how the gang was forced to leave Riff's body behind when they fled from the cops and that it's bothering him. It just goes to show that the Jets really do see each other as a family and Riff was naturally a big part of that, having co-founded the group.
  • According to Diesel's actor, the whole reason he joined the Jets was because Riff saved him from getting beaten to death after trying to steal a car and he wanted to repay the favor. It's clear he feels guilty that, not only did he fail to do that, but he couldn't even give Riff a respectful burial.
• The way Anybodys's voice breaks as he begs Tony to come and hide with him.
• The scene in which Tony comes to see María after the rumble, completely broken by what has happened.
  María: ¡No, no entres! ¡SI ENTRAS, TE MATO! ^*No, don't come in! If you come in, I will kill you!
  Tony: I didn't...I didn't mean for it—
  María: You promised you would stop this. YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD STOP THIS!
  Tony: I tried...I tried...
  María: And then you murdered him! You murdered me!
  (She starts hitting Tony as hard as she can, to which he doesn't react or try to stop)
  María: YOU'RE A KILLER!!! KILLER! KILLER! Killer! Killer! Killer...killer...
  (She breaks down into tears and collapses onto the floor)
  Tony: I'm going to the cops. I just had to see you first.
  (He turns to leave, but María grabs his jacket, holding him back)
  María: You let them take you from me, how do I forgive you for that?
  • Notice how Tony doesn't even mention Riff in this version, because he knows that Bernardo killing Riff still does not justify him killing Bernardo. Even after María forgives him, Tony still wants to turn himself in because he feels so much guilt over it.
• After María and Anita's confrontation "A Boy Like That/I Have A Love", while Anita makes it clear that she is sympathetic to María, and will help her and Tony, she also doesn't outright forgive her for loving the man that killed the love of her life.
  Anita: [Tony] will never be safe here, and no one will ever forgive him.
  María: Will you?
  Anita: (sharply) You can't ever ask me that!
  María: (crying) Will you ever forgive me?
  Anita: Te quiero, mi niña,^*I love you, my girl, but he will have to go away, and you will have to go with him!
  (Anita leaves, and María collapses crying on the bed)
  • The way María belts out "NOOO, ANITA, NOOOOOOOOO!!!" during the song.
• A small moment, but while mourning Riff's death, Graziella can be seen wearing one of his shirts. Presumably the only piece of him she has left.
• Valentina singing "Somewhere," which is just as much about her own marriage to Doc as it is about Tony and María.
  • Her entire reaction to learning Tony killed Bernardo. She's clearly heartbroken that after everything Tony did to try to better himself and improve his life, he's now facing even worse legal consequences than before. As she pours herself a shot of rum, her hands are trembling.
• The way Schrank coldly allows Anita to leave by saying "You're not [Bernardo's] widow or anything." Earlier, Bernardo mentioned he had been trying to marry her for five years. The way she completely shakes as she goes down the stairs is because she's just been reminded of what had also been taken from her: the chance to have a long life with the man she loved.
• During the end credits, Janusz Kamiński's credit as Director of Photography is displayed over a wrecked home. In the background is graffiti that says simply "I lived here," a reminder of the suffering the characters are going through and will continue to go through as they're relocated. Not only that, but Mike Faist, David Alvarez, and Rachel Zegler have their names displayed over destroyed apartment rooms, while the Jet actors appear over a boarded-up storefront.
  • On Rachel Zegler's title card, the wall has the graffiti "Jets Champs Always," a lonely boast about the Jets' greatness on a building that's about to be torn down.
• In spite of all their bravado, once they actually draw knives during the rumble, Riff and Bernardo appear absolutely terrified, swiping at each other as minimally as possible, each one often flinching away from the other. It's a stark reminder that, at the end of the day and for all Riff's implied death wishes, they're still teenagers who haven't had much of a chance to live yet.
• The reactions of both gangs after they are forced to flee the salt shed to escape the police. It's clear that for all of their previous talk, none of them were prepared for anyone to actually die during the rumble. Now with Riff and Bernardo dead, they're just a bunch of scared kids who are shellshocked by what they just witnessed and terrified about the consequences they might face if they are caught by the cops.
  Braulio: ¡Yo no quería que esto pasara, yo no quería que esto pasara! ^*I didn't want this to happen, I didn't want this to happen!
• The fact that nearly everyone is fleshed out more than in the original film makes the ultimate fate of the main characters that much more tragic—Tony is killed without ever getting to redeem himself for his previous actions, Bernardo is killed before making it big as a boxer, Riff realizes too late that his refusal to move beyond gang life cost himself a future, Chino's going to jail instead of achieving the American Dream as an accountant, Anita's giving up on the American Dream and returning to Puerto Rico, etc.
• While Anita's reaction to Tony's death, and María's to her lying that she died aren't shown, it's undoubtable that relations between the two will be damaged possibly forever. The two were basically sisters at the beginning of the film, and although Anita hates how María is in love with the man who killed Bernardo, she had some acceptance of it until she was sent into Doc's. Two traumatic things happening to her in one night will surely make her hate María. And when the latter finds out Anita is partly responsible for Tony's death...one can only hope Valentina is able to provide some help and support for her.

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