The Wiz (1978) A Review

This starts rather differently from The Wizard of Oz (1939). It begins in a very nice home of Dorothy's Aunt M. It’s near Christmas and there is a large family dinner. Dorthey is rather down on herself as to what or who she can become. Her aunt tries to get her to improve in her life, but she is too self-doubting for that.

Later her beloved dog Toto is missing and she runs out into the streets during a massive winter storm to look for him. She finds him, but a tornado comes and takes her away. We find that the tornado is sent by the good witch to bring her to Oz.

The adventure starts with graffiti coming to life. What unfolds after is close to the original in many ways, but varies in many other ways. It is very synced to the lifestyle of African American people who live in a big city. The cultural references are all from the perspective of an African American in the 1970’s USA.

The characters of the movie are also adapted to be from the perspective of a 1970’s African American from the big city. There are obvious political and cultural references in this movie that should not be overlooked. The struggle here is an adaptation of a very real struggle of the target market of this movie in the time, and sadly to this day continues to be a struggle to some degree in our modern time.

In the end the Wiz is not who he appears to be, and seems to be a figurehead to motivate the people. However he has no real power over the world around him, but it’s all he can do to help. When found out, Dorthey and the crew are disappointed and angry. Everything is a lie! Or is it? There is a deeper truth to this than one first sees. It is a mirror of the political system and a deep struggle of a people.

It also has a lot of very cool musical numbers in it that make the movie oh so very entertaining. I don’t think a lot of people will see the deep truth of this movie, but it’s there if you look hard enough. Do note the closing sequences and the closing musical number are important to anyone of any culture and should not be ignored.

Side note: Some think that the failure of The Wiz to have any real power is a symbol of religion and God not having any real power, but are used to manipulate people into doing things they would not have done on their own - all for the greater power and wealth of the leaders of the Church. I can see this point, but I’m not sure about it - I think it’s much more to the political side of things and the radical political groups that sprang up in the USA in the 1970’s that tried to get people to do all manner of bad things to further their causes.

Ratings for The Wiz (1978) - IMDB is 5.6/10 and I gave it an 8/10.

Note: It is not steaming for free but there are places you can see it without renting, I’d just recommend an adblocker if you go that route. To rent, on average it’s about $5 and to buy on average it’s $15 (digital copy).

P.S. I'm not the target market, but I don't think you need to be to enjoy this movie a lot.

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