Coriolanus
Mar. 6th, 2012 10:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzfishRalph Fiennes (dir.), Coriolanus
A modern-day Shakespeare film. Been awhile since we've had one of those that was any good[1].
The plot: Caius Marcius, a general in the Roman army, hates the plebeians, and they return the sentiment. He beats the Volscians at the town of Corioles and is given the name 'Coriolanus.' At the urging of his mother he runs for consul. The Senate acclaims him, as do the plebeians until the tribunes turn them against him. He's exiled from Rome for unspecified "crimes against the people." Embittered, he goes to the Volscians and leads their army against Rome. Outside the gates of Rome his mother and wife plead with him to make peace and accept Rome's surrender. He does, and Aufidius, the leader of the Volscians, has him assassinated.
So much for Shakespeare. The film's set in modern-day, in "a place calling itself Rome." It works pretty well. Conversations between people who really shouldn't be in the same place (Coriolanus and his second, or Aufidius and the Romans) now involve video chat. More interesting, the political ramblings of the "but do you really think Marcius has a shot at being consul?" type have been translated from random conversations overheard in the street to TV talk shows. It's utterly comprehensible, and makes perfect sense.
I don't know Coriolanus the play very well. It's not terribly popular, probably because Coriolanus is so painfully unsympathetic. He despises the people he's sworn to protect, he's a rotten politician, he's cold and distant from his wife and son. Everything is about honor with him: he shows it to those who he thinks deserve it, and expects it from those lesser than him, and gets very angry when he doesn't get it. His only redeeming qualities are that he is very very good at what he does, which is commanding troops and killing people.
And yet. I came away from the movie with, not exactly sympathy for Coriolanus, but an understanding of what drove him to the choices he made. Which makes this a successful adaptation of a difficult play, I guess.
[1] Speak not to me of Ethan Hawkes's corporate Hamlet, which even Bill Murray as Polonius couldn't salvage.
A modern-day Shakespeare film. Been awhile since we've had one of those that was any good[1].
The plot: Caius Marcius, a general in the Roman army, hates the plebeians, and they return the sentiment. He beats the Volscians at the town of Corioles and is given the name 'Coriolanus.' At the urging of his mother he runs for consul. The Senate acclaims him, as do the plebeians until the tribunes turn them against him. He's exiled from Rome for unspecified "crimes against the people." Embittered, he goes to the Volscians and leads their army against Rome. Outside the gates of Rome his mother and wife plead with him to make peace and accept Rome's surrender. He does, and Aufidius, the leader of the Volscians, has him assassinated.
So much for Shakespeare. The film's set in modern-day, in "a place calling itself Rome." It works pretty well. Conversations between people who really shouldn't be in the same place (Coriolanus and his second, or Aufidius and the Romans) now involve video chat. More interesting, the political ramblings of the "but do you really think Marcius has a shot at being consul?" type have been translated from random conversations overheard in the street to TV talk shows. It's utterly comprehensible, and makes perfect sense.
I don't know Coriolanus the play very well. It's not terribly popular, probably because Coriolanus is so painfully unsympathetic. He despises the people he's sworn to protect, he's a rotten politician, he's cold and distant from his wife and son. Everything is about honor with him: he shows it to those who he thinks deserve it, and expects it from those lesser than him, and gets very angry when he doesn't get it. His only redeeming qualities are that he is very very good at what he does, which is commanding troops and killing people.
And yet. I came away from the movie with, not exactly sympathy for Coriolanus, but an understanding of what drove him to the choices he made. Which makes this a successful adaptation of a difficult play, I guess.
[1] Speak not to me of Ethan Hawkes's corporate Hamlet, which even Bill Murray as Polonius couldn't salvage.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-08 01:56 am (UTC)(Not gory, so much; just... brutal. Very up-front about death and pain.)