Fiddler on the Roof

It is a 1971 film stage musical film, based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem.

In a small jewish town, tradition seems to be the center of everyones lives. From the clothes they wear to the jobs they perform, tradition is everything. It keeps these people "balanced" trying to scratch out a pleasent simple toon without breaking their neck on the roof. Tradition makes everyone know who he is and enables him to know what God has planned for him to do. The play shows people of the city in their workplace. Each person has their own job and practice in the village through tradition. They have certain types of people in the villiage, like the matchmaker who pairs up the children to be wed, as well as the begger, asking for food and change. "Without tradition, the lives of the villiage would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof."

The matchmaker is comes to the farm to pair one of the daughters with her future husband. Her mind wonders off about her dead husband and she constantly forgets why she is at the farm in the first place. We learn the eldest daughter,Tzeitel, is not wanting to be matched but by a matchmaker. She doesn't feel like she should get matched right away. The other four daughters, Hodel, Shava, Shprintze, and Bielke can't even begin thinking about marriage before Tzeitel finds love. However, the eldest daughter changes their mind and by the end of their number, they make the comparison of two types of matches. (Boy and Fire) The girls sing "playing with matches a girl could get burned."

The farmer just wants to be a "rich man."The misfit newcommer makes a point to the swearing men that they need to know whats going on outside of their world. The newcomer and the farmer bond when they realize they are both poor. The farmer offers the newcomer food in exchange to give the farmer's five girls "lessons." The poor taylor and the eldest daughter want to be "matched." However, The Taylor is way too shy to ask the farmer for his daughter's hand in marraige. The butcher in town also has "found a liking" in the farmer's oldest daughter.

Meanwhile, on the day of the sabbath, tradition is shown yet again. All different kinds of family are gathered around with whatever family they have as they sing light candles and pass around the cup.

Tevye meets Lazar the butcher mistakingly thinking Lazar wants to buy a milk cow instead of marrying his daughter. After the misunderstanding is cleared, Tevye agrees to let him marry his daughter. For he is a "rich man," and his daughter would never want anything. After a drunken celebration, Tevye runs into a russian constable who warns him there will be a "demonstration" soon. The Constable has respect for the jewish village but through orders he has no way of stopping it.


Perchik's lessons with the daughter seem to be a little different than those taught by previous "tradition." He introduces the second daughter, to a world outside of tradition by dancing with her and holding her, without the need of a matchmaker. You can see an obvious effection between them. The farmer announces the news that Lazar wants his hands in marrage. The mother is filled with glee, but the eldest daughter begs for mercy not to make her marry him for she will always be unhappy with her name. Soon after, the Taylor proves to the farmer standing up to him that he is a true match. When the farmer disagrees, Motel exclaims "even a poor taylor is entitled to some happiness." Tevye realizes that the taylor is talking like a "man," and accepts that the two marry. Meanwhile he still has to break the news to Lazar as well as his wife that the original marraige is called off.

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The farmer must find a way to tell his wife that their oldest daughter is going to marry Motel and not Lazar. So while in bed with his wife he pretends to wake up from an awful nightmare. He makes up that the wedding will not go over good if she is to marry Lazar.

After the ceremony, a lot of "tradition" takes place. However by the end of the weeding ,what's always been normality, is broken by the abnormal newcomer. Although uneasy at first, the people of the jewish community are dancing with the opposite sex. The newcomer has convinced everyone that it is infact not a sin. Suddenly the celebration is interupted by russians who distruct the city as earlier promised.

As the farmer prays, he doesn't like to ask God for too much. He prays for Motel a Sewing Machine and then the camera views him carrying his own carrage. He begins to pray for a horse that is not lame but stops because he feels like its inappropriate. Later on, the newcomer has fallen for the second daughter and asks for her hand in marraige. However, again this newcomer breaks tradition for he does not ask the father for permission. The farmer exclaims "tear out my beard and uncover my head" emphasising his firm position on tradition. He is appalled by the fact that the two have found each other without the use of a matchmaker. However, Tevye soon comes to the conclusion that they share the same "matchmaker" as Adam and Eve and he gives the two his "blessing."

Tradition is all the farmer is about. He does not like change. However, he accepts it well after monologues with himself. The third daughter, Chava, has fallen for a man, Fyedka, out of her religion. Chava tells her father she wishes to marry Fyedka. She exclames that the world is changing and that it is okay. Tevye exclaimes "somethings will never change" and he denies the marraige. Later, Chava is missing. Tevye says that Chava is dead to them because he realizes they have run off together to get married. When Chava returns, she begs for her father's blessing. After debating with turning on his daughter or turning on his faith. He realizes there is "no other hand" and that he will not give his daughter her blessing. Later, the jewish community is asked to move out. Tevye, still unaccepting the changing world tells the soldier "this corner of the world has always been our home" and he refuses to leave.