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Othello
By Laurence Fishburne, Kenneth Branagh, Irène Jacob, Nathaniel Parker, Michael Maloney
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Watched
Othello last night with Branaugh as Iago and Laurence "Morpheus" Fishburne as Othello. I thought it was outstanding for a Shakespeare film.
Very tight cutting of the original script, yes, and I'm sure that will irritate many purists who like to hear every word of the Bard's original. But as someone who simply sat down to watch the film for the beauty of the lines and the power of the story ... it was incredible.
Great acting from the principals. They captured the heart of the story and Iago's hateful manipulation that implants jealousy in Othello's heart toward the innocent Desdemona. I especially appreciated the way the actors communicated the
meaning of the lines ... so important for a 21st C audience. We are so far removed from Elizabethan speech that it's nice to be able to watch a film that (for me) required very little "translation" to follow.
[But I'm probably not a good judge of that, since teaching Shakespeare and going to BJ's plays 2x a year for 10 years and growing up on the King James kinda soaks so much Elizabethan into your ear that you stop struggling and just start enjoying. It's a nice place to be.]
Highly recommend.
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