The hills are [still] alive with the sound of music

Happiness in the cinema hall starts when the film finishes. The lights turn on. You stay in your seat. You patiently wait for the lights to turn off again. The waiting is over. The next show of the film starts. Fifty years ago on March 2, 1965, "The Sound of Music" premiered in the USA. Fifty years later, the hills are [still] alive with the sound of music.

We all know the story. It's a watershed in history: Austria in 1938.  Maria is a young woman trying to become a nun. Although there's no shortage of enthusiasm from her side, something goes wrong all the time. Fate seems to be somewhere else. The Navy Captain Georg von Trapp has lost his wife. He has seven mischievous children. One governess after another comes to and goes away from the von Trapp family before you can snap your fingers. Maria isn't one to turn down a challenge. She picks up her guitar and dances to the von Trapp family gate singing "let them bring on any problems, I'll do better than my best." Thus starts one of the most loved musical fairy tales of   all time.

As soon as Maria meets the von Trapp family, she sees the mistake many fathers never see. The children, devoid of a mother's love, seek attention from their father. The Captain wants 'order'. Failing to reach out to their father, the children make the life of each governess miserable to the point they leave. Still the father wants 'order'. Maria, with her motherly love and affection soon wins the hearts of the children. She does so with something that is in the hearts of all people, a universal feeling for music.

It's summer time. The warm summer heat slowly starts to melt the Captain's heart. He starts to get close to his children. His love for music when his wife was alive slowly reawakens. Maria, the bridge between the Captain and the children, soon finds herself at a crossroad between the convent and the Captain's family.

The Austrian Alps are blooming with Edelweiss, the little white flower, a personification of peace and calmness. Fairy tales and life are never so calm for too long. Austria is on the brink of an invasion from Hitler's Germany. The Captain finds he will soon be drafted to fight against his own people. By this time, Maria has become a member of the von Trapp family. The Captain, Maria and the children flee Austria to become troubadours like the real life von Trapp family and the real life Maria on whom "The Sound of Music" is based.

"The Sound of Music" remains timeless for two reasons. Music is portrayed in the universal appeal of love – in all its spiritual glories. It is also a fairy tale that challenges like all epics: the choice between right and wrong; the choice between justice and injustice. Like our own War of Independence, "The Sound of Music" shows how the power of music has the grace to give hope beyond hope.

How many movies can you name that your grandparents watched, your parents watched, and you still watch? What's more, the three generations still keep on watching? Keeping things simple has made "The Sound of Music" transcend space and time. Fifty years later, "The Sound of Music" still truly remains one of the 'few of our favorite things.'

Asrar Chowdhury teaches economic theory and game theory in the classroom. Outside he listens to music and BBC Radio; follows Test Cricket; and plays the flute.
He can be reached at: asrar.chowdhury@facebook.com