Twenty five years! I have just watched the DVD movie, the 25thanniversary edition of “Flashdance”, which was published in 2008. This was my second time after the first in 1983. What was I doing at that time?
Let’s go to the movie first! The plot is simple. An 18 years old welder girl Alex, a dance lover, works as a part-time solo dancer at a pub in the US after day off. Coincidently, the boss of her full-time job, a divorced 40 years odds man, is obsessed at her beauty and her talent after watching her performance once. They fall in love quickly. Alex has a dream to fly to stardom. However, the lack of professional training and any formal education discourages her very much. It is after the loss of her respected aunt, a retired ballerina, and seeing how her good friend gave up her dream after failing a dance competition that Alex regains her mettle for her pursuit. With the strings pulled by her boyfriend not to her notice, Alex finally has the opportunity to audition in front of five panelists of a dance school. The last dance coupled with the theme song “What A Feeling” is so exciting that even after 27 years I was still moved by every step of hers on the floor.
Jennifer Beals, a black-and-white mix beauty like today’s Jessica Alba, made Alex lively in front of the audiences around the world. Her big eyes, her appealing physic and her innocent look electrified the souls in the cinemas throughout the 94 minutes. The dance of hers in the opening, the others of her pub colleagues and her last for the auditioning are too thrilling to tell. Every dance is accompanied by a song, popular back then and still energetic and easy-listening even nowadays, like “Maniac”, “Gloria”, of course “What A Feeling”. The love songs “Lady, lady, lady” and “I can hear where the heart is” both touch the bottom of my heart.
What does the movie tell us? Simple, “The dream never dies”! No matter how many generations passed, this remains true. “Flashdance” belongs to the 80’s. The theme however does not. Everybody has a dream or more no matter at what ages. It all depends on your persistence. When you go die-hard, the dream never dies.
Jennifer Beals’ smiles are still there. I am asking myself, “What was I doing at that time? Have I made my dreams come true?” What a feeling!
23rd September 2010
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