uHollywood

As a fan of Shakespeare I can’t really point to any film that I thought did an accurate job of conveying the play to the huge screen, but I do think there have been masterpieces that were based on his plots. I wish there were a motion picture I could point to as “the one” that did it right but I think all the literal adaptations failed in some way to capture the full majesty of his plays, though not for a lack of trying. Regardless of this many directors have been able to assert an independent vision with Shakespeare as theAutomobile and to me these are certainly the best adaptations we have to date.

I think there’s no doubt that the ideal Shakespeare film is Ran by Akira Kurosawa. This is based on the play King Lear but is not a word-for-word interpretation by any means. This is probably one of the best films by the man who is in my eyes the ideal film director of all time. Kurosawa had an enormous power to his work and this movie is particularly charged.

He also made Throne of Blood, which tapped Macbeth for inspiration, but to me Ran is his masterpiece. It is a moving, beautifully framed epic that by the end of it will have you certain that King Lear was in fact the Bard’s finest play! The story is that of an aging warlord in Japan who decides to split his kingdom among his three sons.

The consequences are of course disastrous. There are changes to the script and I think they work perfectly. The dialogue is made more conversational than eloquent and much of the melodrama is twisted just enough to seem that much more realistic. The action scenes are brilliant and this films features some truly innovative and original long range shots that will blow you away. Truly one of Kurosawa’s finest films.

An even more bold adaptation that stands out to me is My Own Private Idaho by Gus Van Sant. This is a film that stars Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix, based on the play Henry IV. The leads play the modern day incarnations of Falstaff and Prince Hal; two hustlers who sell their bodies to feed their addictions.

Even though Van Sant changed the dialoguetotally the feeling and plot is basically the same, with the addition of sex, drugs and prostitution to underline the dramatic elements in place of melodramatic speeches. I think the beauty of this film is that the end result is an emotional payoff that seems like the exact equivalent of what audiences in the 1600s must have felt after seeing Henry IV!

I save my last mention for a film that I am sure no one else has picked, even in this violent day and age. It is the 1999 film Titus based on Shakespeare’s play Titus Andronicus. This was his first play and by far his most bloodthirsty. In it we’re given no hope, no heroes. Just death and mercilessness.

I think that Hopkins was channeling Hannibal Lector in this performance and when you see it you will be glad he did. You can tell he ravishes his killings and his hunger for revenge growsMore massivethan life even as the body count continues to rise. He says, “Rome is a wilderness of tigers,” and we can tell by his tone that he includes himself in this estimation…

Titus goes over the top and then back again. It is truly one of the ideal Shakespeare films ever made even if it is based on his worst play. This was basically Shakespeare’s foray into the horror genre and it is captured in epic fashion here. You have to see this at least once, especially if you like the character of Hannibal Lector.

There have been hundreds of film adaptations of the master’s work throughout the years and the vast majority of them have failed. But the few that worked shine bright in a sea of darkness, and at least for this Shakespeare fan, that is enough.