The movie remake of “West Side Story” is getting a lot of attention. It’s “in all the theaters” — remember them?

Parts of several songs, including “America,” have been on the radio. I was talking with a Latina about that one. She’s seen the first movie version of “West Side Story” at least twice and tremendously enjoyed the Barrington Stage production two or three years ago, as did I. But something about the song “America” rubbed her the wrong way.

”Well, it’s propaganda,” I said.

I first saw “West Side Story” on screen with the older of my two older brothers, sometime between 1961 and 1964, at the old Union Square theater, where Barrington Stage is now. We were both blown away, as were audiences everywhere in the United States — a.k.a. America. (To great success, Barrington Stage also staged “On the Town,” with music by the amazing Leonard Bernstein, who composed the music for “West Side Story” and as well as for “Wonderful Town.”)

One isn’t being a sourpuss to point out that the song “America,” with words by Stephen Sondheim, is propagandistic. After all, “West Side Story” was conceived, put together, staged and turned into a movie during the Cold War. Propagandizing is done in various ways on a number of platforms including stage and screen.

It was a great movie, and we loved it.

But consider: America is not only what we in the United States and a lot of foreigners call our country, it’s also one of six or seven great divisions of land on the planet. If it’s one of six, then America the continent comprises North and South America; if it’s one of seven, then the United States shares North America with Canada and Mexico as well as the nations of Central America.*

Puerto Rico, where Anita and Rosalia** as well as Maria are from in “West Side Story,” is a Caribbean archipelago where since 1917 residents have enjoyed U.S. citizenship but not the vote in U.S. elections. Like Guam, it is an unincorporated territory of the United States.

In 1952, five years before “West Side Story” was first performed on stage, in Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico became a commonwealth with autonomy in internal affairs. Statehood, independence, or continued commonwealth status have been a political issue, with Puerto Ricans voting for the status quo, in 1967 and 1993 (and perhaps once or twice since then).

None of this should spoil the movie for anybody.

— Mark Channing Miller

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* Central America is also what some in the United States call “our backyard,” an informal category that sometimes comprises the rest of Latin America, as well as the Caribbean.

** They’re the two who memorably debate in the song “America.”