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Austria’s Hills Are Still Alive, 60 Years Later

Europe|Austria’s Hills Are Still Alive, 60 Years Later

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/world/europe/austria-sound-of-music.html

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The little girl peered out the train window at the green, rolling hills of Austria, the country she had visited in her mind every day for months.

“Dad,” she said, “Maria was on one of those mountains!” Her eyes lit up.

The Austrians around us did not stir.

It has been 60 years since the Julie Andrews classic “The Sound of Music” opened in movie theaters. It still enchants American viewers, but, despite bringing millions of dollars in tourism revenue to their country each year, it befuddles many Austrians.

For all those Austrians: The film tells the story of a nun who becomes a governess to seven Austrian children, brightens their lives with song, marries their father and helps everyone flee the Nazis. It is oh-so-loosely based on the lives of the singing Von Trapp family, who escaped Hitler and settled in Vermont, where they still run a cozy lodge with excellent pretzels.

Generations of Americans have obsessed over the film. They include my wife, Lily, who watched it repeatedly on VHS as a child, and my 4-year-old daughter, Nora, whose maternal grandmother streamed the movie for her last year.