STEVEN SPIELBERG’S WEST SIDE STORY HAVING NO SUBTITLES IS A POWERFUL CORRECTIVE

TO LIVE IN the Warmann household is to be privy to many conversations between my mum and her Nigerian friends. One thing about those tête-à-têtes that always sticks out to me is that every now and then, the occasional bit of English will be thrown in amidst the Engenni language she speaks, helping to give me an idea of what’s being discussed. The last place I expected to hear that same switch between dialects was in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake, but it was very welcome. Better still, when the Spanish dialogue came, it wasn’t accompanied by subtitles.

It’s a notable corrective in a film that’s brimming with smart updates from both the 1957 stage musical and the 1961 film adaptation, including the ensemble of Latino actors playing the Sharks, a muchneeded change to the original’s slew of white actors wearing brownface. The lack of Spanish subtitles feels like a natural extension of that change. In an interview with IGN, Spielberg stated that, “If I subtitled the Spanish I’d simply be doubling down on the English and giving English the power over the Spanish. This was not going to happen in this film. I needed to respect the language enough to not subtitle it.”

The greatest director of all time has a point, and it’s accentuated by a sharp Tony

Kushner screenplay which deepens the racial tensions that have always been inherent in the story that has many white characters saying, “Speak English,” throughout the film. The lack of subtitles in the moments when the Sharks are singing and conversing with each other is a small change that has a big impact, because it centres and celebrates Latino culture instead of othering it.

Furthermore, subtitles are simply unnecessary in Spielberg’s update. The expressive acting from Rachel Zegler, David Alvarez, Ariana Debose and others, along with the assured direction, ensures that we’re never lost as to what’s going on in any given scene.

To be clear, this is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Indeed, subtitles are often necessary in allowing audiences to engage in worlds they’re unfamiliar with. But there are plenty of instances where characters switch between English and their native language, and those films and TV shows would do well to follow West Side Story’s example. Because sometimes authenticity — and not outright knowledge — is the path to greater understanding.