About Max

The Sound of Music is obviously a classic film, and Julie Andrew’s is divine, as she always is. But the last time I watched it, I paid a lot more attention to a more minor character in the film I hadn’t before. Captian Von Trapps producer friend, Max, who kept trying to convince the Captian to let the kids perform. In the past I saw him as a kind of bad guy because he kept advising the Captain to go along with the Nazi’s. During the ball scene Max told him to remove the Austrian flag, and it made the Captian angry. But Von Trapp still kept him around despite what I saw as Nazi sympathizing.

Its important to note that Max is a completely fabricated character. The actual Von Trapp family did have a producer that performed with them, but he also fled with them to America. What I believe Max was put in the film to do was present a contrast to the Captian and express the view of many people of the time.

The Nazi’s had already established themselves as a force to be reckoned with by the time they invaded Austria. The Austrian people knew it was comply or be killed. When Max expressed concern over the flag at the ball, it wasn’t because he was in agreement with the invasion, it was spoken out of fear. He showed us the viewpoint of just lay low, don’t cause any trouble and maybe they will just pass us by. If we don’t cause any problems, at least we will stay alive. I think a lot of people hoped for that. At least we will stay alive. This is in contrast with Captian Von Trapp who flew the Austrain flag with pride and scolded the telegram delivery boy. He was not going to let anyone think for a second he stood in favor of these Nazi’s. Even the Captian said, “to oppose them would be fatal”. They all knew to speak up would surely be death. Max isn’t a bad person, he’s a terrified person. He is there to show us the scared citizen trying to slip by unnoticed and not be hung in the town square.

I think he can show us about ourselves today. We aren’t afraid of a public execution, but we are afraid of public humiliation. We are afraid of upsetting our friends. So we hide the flag. We stay quiet about big issues, even when they are costing lives. Max shows us our own fears. Why don’t we openly discuss teen suicide and fight to make mental healthcare accessible? Why don’t we fight for better immigration reform? We need to learn from Max and the Captain even in our lives today.

In the end, Max did help aide the family in their escape. The character came to a point of loving his friend and his country more than his fears and risked himself to help them. Because he was fictional, the movie never tells us if he was ok or not. But I’d hope he was.