White Nights

You’re telling me the world’s greatest ballet dancer (Mikhail Baryshnikov) and world’s greatest tap dancer (Gregory Hines) star together in a movie all about dancing?  And it’s also a political thriller?  Cool.  I mean kinda weird but cool.

Baryshnikov essentially plays himself as Nikolai Rodchenko, a famous ballet dancer who escaped the oppressive Soviet Union and defected to the US.  Years later he’s a thriving mega star who travels all over performing in the world’s most prestigious theaters.  On the way to his next show his plane has a malfunction and they must make an emergency landing in Siberia.  When Nikolai gets wind of this he freaks out, frantically tears up his passport and tries to flush it down the toilet.  The jumbo jet spectacularly crash lands on a remote military base where the passengers are held until they can be transported out of the country.  Unfortunately Nikolai is found out almost immediately and the KGB whisk him away.  They try to persuade him to remain in the country and dance for them again.  Of course he doesn’t exactly have a choice.  Dance or die.

Meanwhile American defector Raymond Greenwood (Hines) is eking it out in Siberia putting on a miniature production of Porgy and Bess.  He despised the way he was treated as a black man in America who showed great talent but was ignored.  He joined the military where he was ordered to carry out commands he didn’t agree with like kill people.  Through his experiences he developed an intense hatred towards the US and split.  Initially he was treated well when he arrived in the Soviet Union but once the novelty wore off and he became old news as a political football they shipped him out of Moscow to the middle of nowhere.  While this new lifestyle isn’t as wonderful as he’d hoped he seems to be ok with his decision overall.

Raymond is tapped (get it?) by the KGB to convince Nikolai that the ol’ SU ain’t so bad and he can have his old life back and shoot straight to being their top ballet dancer again.  They even bring in his former dance partner and lover Galina (Helen Mirren (Fast X)) as additional muscle to get him on board.  Nikolai isn’t buying this shit though and keeps his head low until he can figure out a way to escape to the American embassy.

So this is a terrific setup involving two characters who both see their birth country as this unforgivable monster and their adopted country as the place they truly belong.  Baryshnikov and Hines have good chemistry with a tense introductory period but eventually bond over dance.  They make impassioned cases why they decided to leave their homelands and argue with each other over how each of their societies have restricted their artistic expression.  The subject matter is heavy with the characters going through many intense emotions and these guys are up to the task.

While the thriller portion of the film is fairly by the numbers (although I have a real soft spot for this particular sub-genre, especially since they don’t make them anymore) what shines the most are the dancing scenes.  Big surprise, right?  Interestingly they keep Baryshnikov and Hines separate in their dancing until the end when they do a duet.  This is smart for several reasons.  One is that their disciplines are completely different, which Raymond points out to the KGB (who don’t care).  One comes from the ballet world, one comes from the tap world.  Nikolai and Raymond spend a lot of time together in and out of the practice room so they study each other, get to know each other, learn from each other.  Another reason is to show the metaphorical rift between the characters.  They dislike one another initially but gain respect for the other’s abilities and sympathize with their situations.  It’s beautiful.

The way they weave the dancing into the story is impressive too.  For example Nikolai has his boombox and western cassette tapes with him because they were on the plane so he uses that music to workout to.  Raymond hasn’t heard any new music, American or otherwise, in a long time so it strikes a deep chord.  When Nikolai goes out of sight to take a shower Raymond puts on a tape and improvises a huge tap routine running all around the dance studio, jumping, spinning, tapping like he’s never tapped before.  This fresh music with infectious beats and sounds unleashes a fire in him that’s been dormant.  It plants a seed in his brain that maybe Nikolai’s right.  Maybe the Soviet Union kinda sucks and he should help him get the fuck out of there.

Later Nikolai has a similar scene where he meets with his old flame Galina and she’s all excited that the government just might, perhaps, cross your fingers approve a production of a ballet that’s currently not allowed because it doesn’t conform to the state’s ideals.  She’s hoping this will be an irresistible enticement for Nikolai.  However, her plan backfires.  Nikolai sees this as sad because he’s already done that ballet in other countries who don’t have the same restrictions.  He then continues to explain that his imagination and passion to create and perform can’t be stifled.  Suddenly he bursts into a magnificent ballet routine that we assume definitely wouldn’t be allowed if he were to stay in the SU.  Galina can only cry.  Not only has she probably never seen those kinds of moves before but she knows he’s right.  His talent would be suppressed and wasted if he doesn’t leave.

And it goes without saying (but I’m gonna say it anyway, er, write it anyway) the duet is pretty magical.  These fuckers strut their shit all over the place in a side by side formation.  It looks so natural how they combine ballet and tap maneuvers into one fluid sequence.  The martial arts kicks are such an awesome and funny touch too (foreshadowed by Hines doing some flying kicks earlier in the film).  I mean these guys look like they’re having a good time pulling off moves that neither of them would ever do on their own and there doesn’t appear to be too much watering down or capitulation either.  They strike the right balance of styles.  Plus Baryshnikov and Hines look badass as hell with Baryshnikov sporting a quasi greaser look in his black pants, black boots, black jacket and white t-shirt while Hines wears relaxed slacks and a tucked in button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

One last thing I gotta mention is the dance scenes are shot superbly, especially the opening ballet number.  The camera keeps the full body in frame most of the time so we don’t miss the unbelievable foot work.  Cuts, closeups, pans and spins are all used to maximum effect.  It’s impressive how dynamic the camera work is without feeling too flashy or distracting.  I wanna say it’s a little strange that the rest of the picture doesn’t have nearly this same level of deftness but that could’ve been an intentional choice.  The plain shooting of the non-dancing stuff certainly provides a contrast.  So like the characters themselves who become alive when they begin to dance so does the camera.  I’ll leave it up to you to decide.

The title refers to the time of year near the arctic when there are days of twenty four hour sunlight.  I’m not sure what this has to do with the material though.  Maybe it’s referring to Nikolai’s situation feeling like an unending waking nightmare?  Or it’s like he’s entered a Twilight Zone-esque space where time ticks differently than the rest of the universe?  Once again, I’ll leave it up to you to interpret however you wish.

Director Taylor Hackford turned in an intriguing film that’s sorta half amazing and half just ok.  I’ve said this before that he doesn’t really have a discernible style but he tends to turn in solid films with neat premises: The Devil’s Advocate, Delores Claiborne, Ray, Blood In, Blood Out, Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll.  I need to give the guy more credit.

So ballet and tap dancing can be friends after all.  It only took being trapped together in an isolated bitter communist country with little artistic freedom, no real means of escape and the threat of prison or death if you don’t conform.  It was worth it.