Macbeth
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Movie Reviews of Macbeth
Movie Review: Fierce and Visionary
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fierce and visionary interpretation of perhaps the most deceptively simple of Shakespeare's major plays. The elements of bloody ambition, weak kings with wills overborne by steely women, unjust slaughter and revenge are perhaps the most elemental ingrediants for classic tragedy going back to the Greeks. The atmosphere is haunted, half-waking and half-sleeping; the key dialogues brutally simple. The witches' songs linger in your mind from first reading and never go away over your lifetime, like perverse versions of nursery rhymes. Yet most directors who tackle the play, even some of the greatest, come at it like a car hitting ice and go into a careening skid. Bad or also-ran Macbeths just don't cut it, anymore than fakey Halloween costumes.
Truth is, the play is a garden for the imagination, on paper, but a minefield of hidden traps when someone has the audacity to attempt to film it -- something more than even that rare audacity is apparently needed to carry it off. It is possible Polanski's reaction to his wife's own horrific murder provided the extra here, who knows? Perhaps it gave him "eye of newt"? Then toss into the cauldron some $$$ from Hugh Hefner, trying to launder himself from soft core porn king into a major cultural figure ... toe of frog? Well, something exploded in this cauldron, for sure. Its scary as hell and hardly because of the blood.
On a more mundane level, a workmanlike and intelligent actor like Jon Finch, in his prime and with something to prove, delivered a damn lot to the title role. His middle of the road, quasi-Everyman interpretation of the murderous anti-hero adds the real potent element to the brew -- something that leaves you saying, "this could have been me." Francesca Annis, also in her prime, delivers splendidly too, and with all the keen reserve of a confident beauty -- sort of reminds us English speakers of what kind of face (and body) likely launched a thousand ships. Plus add Polanski's guts to show real old crones for the witches, naked as diseased old birds on a winter day. He hardly cared whether your English teacher would laugh. And don't forget the audience -- make the dagger real and palpable, to Lady Macbeth and to us. Just a figment of the imagination? Well, that's just another second rate professor's sorry excuse. This play was not constructed as closet drama, either, and every kid in the English speaking world needs be taught to understand the difference. Macbeth rather was and always shall be a body blow to the mass audience, when delivered properly. Your professor should have told you too that Shakespeare himself freely altered his texts from performance to performance -- one can only imagine what his molten genius would have done if he ever had a camera in his hands. Finally, the majestic use of scenery raises everything to the level of dreamscape worthy of Salvadore Dali, and better than anything any surrealist filmmaker (usually rather closet academic types, finally) ever accomplished. Here, the wedding of waking and sleeping is seamless --just as in Shakespeare's semi-mad, quickly dashed off accidental masterpiece -- perhaps an artistic response to personal tragedy of his own.
In sum, this film has well stood up to the test of time. The contoversies about nudity, Hefner, the Manson gang, and bad boy Polanski are very old news, by now, and ought finally be buried. They never should have mattered anyway, but unfortunately the film was launched in this climate wherein it provided an easy mark to the chattering classes. Nor does Polanski's genius require any excuse -- see his Tess and his Chinatown. The real news is that this is the best Macbeth on film to date.
Movie Review: Gain by Fraud
Summary: 5 Stars
King Duncan, king of Scottland learns from a sergant that Macbeth and Banquo have defeated the allied forces of Norway and Ireland. King Duncan sends the messager to congradulate Macbeth. Macbeth is called the Thane of Glamis, an anglo saxon, a military champion; Macbeth was not the rank of a noble; and when three weird sisters tell Macbeth, he will become king the insatible evil desire for power overcomes him and yields to the temptation to gain power by fraud; Macbeth believes in fate and self justification in a plot devised by his wife to kill King Duncan. The weird sisters tell Banquo that his descendants will become a lineage of Kings. Supposely King James I was a descendant of Banquo.
Macbeth writes Lady Macbeth concerning the three weird sisters prophecy. Lady Macbeth is in ecstasy that her husband will become king. Lady Macbeth personifies the harlot willing to trade out virtue for sexual compromise to achieve gain. Lady Macbeth charms, provokes, and masterfully convinces Macbeth to kill Duncan and on the sound of the bell at midnight Macbeth uses two daggers to kill a drunken Duncan. MacDuff arrives and wishes to see King Duncan, only to discover the king has been slain. Macbeth kills two servants having placed the daggers on their bodies. MacDuff is suspious of Macbeth, but leaves for England. Macbeth become the King of Scottland. Macbeth kills McDuffs family. Macbeth consoles the three weird sisters and then has servants kill Banquo; Fleance his son escapes. Malcom, MacDuff, and Fleance form an army and attack Macbeth's castle. Lady Macbeth commits suicide driven to madness, haunted by the violence of her part in the murders. Macbeth is severely weak but manages to fight admirably. Macbeth believes he can not be killed by men born of women and in a moment of exhaustion expose himself to a deadly blow from MacDuff; feigning weakeness, Macbeth strikes back at MacDuff and as he moves in for the kill, MacDuff spears Macbeth in the midsection; MacDuff reveals that he was born early taken by C-section. Malcom is elevated to rank of King.
Conclusions: Europeans did not like the historical role the anglo saxons played in gaining power over the French. Macbeth becomes the personification of the anglo saxon: barbaric, strange Gods, blood thirsty, the warrior that pillages, rapes, and plunders the innocent. Macbeth is villianized as the evil monster that must be killed. Macbeth's death represents the liberation from Anglo Saxon influence.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's visions of the dead and blood represent a parable of unquenchable thirst. They both seek to drink from the water but as they lean down the water decreases in height; their tonques burn with thirst. Gain taken by fraud never quenches the immortal soul. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth never enjoyed their power and money; even when surrounded with friends the visions of their crimes tormented them; what good is power and money, if you can't enjoy it?
Movie Review: The Bard's Film Noir
Summary: 5 Stars
+++++
Shakespeare's tragic play of "Macbeth" (written circa 1606) is set in an atmosphere that's visually dark. There is only one brief moment of sunlight, just after King Duncan's murder by Macbeth. The rest of the play takes place in shadows, in rain, in storms, or in the middle of the night. Because the play is so short (it is, in fact, Shakespeare's shortest tragic play), it resembles a nightmare that's filled with witches, prophesies, ghosts, the fantastical, bloody murder, suicide, paranoia, and dread.
Director Roman Polanski's "Macbeth" (2 hours, 20 minutes) captures all this on film, especially the bleak atmosphere. But there is even more since Polanski makes shrewd decisions when rearranging, eliminating, and embellishing scenes from the original play but he retains Shakespeare's beautiful language as originally written.
We are shown Duncan's bloody murder by Macbeth (Jon Finch) and how he tries to cover up his crime by hacking up Duncan's guards. His ordered killing of Banquo is also shown. Thus we absolutely believe Macbeth when he utters, "I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er."
Finch and Francesca Annis (who plays Lady Macbeth) make an attractive couple who are not too old to be ambitious. Lady Macbeth's beauty convinces us that she could seduce a man to kill a king, and from one scene to the next, Finch's face hardens, tracing his transformation from hero to hell-hound whereas Annis' face softens from shrewd schemer to suicidal sleepwalker.
The short Porter Scene just after Duncan's murder is fun to watch. It effectively provides some comic relief. And the final sword scene between Macbeth and Macduff is thrilling and exciting. You can see Macbeth's determination to win this duel (even though he has lost everything else) when he shouts, "Lay on Macduff / And damn'd be him that cries 'Hold, enough!'"
Even though this is a dark play, the scenery and sets are visually stunning. (The filming was at Shepperton Studios in London, England.) As well, the strong, Scottish music that occasionally plays in the background reminds us that we are watching a Scottish play.
Polanski adds little touches throughout the play to make it easier to understand and to heighten dramatic effect. My favorite is his chilling non-Shakespearean touch at the end. Just after Macbeth is killed and the tyranny of his reign is finally over, the scene shifts to Duncan's second son as he "accidentally" encounters the three weird sisters or witches.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
This movie is a worthy addition to the Bard's cinematic canon.
+++++
Movie Review: Fine adaptation and easy to follow.
Summary: 5 Stars
Roman Polanski's screen adaptation of the Shakespeare classic was well received by some and loathed by others. On a personal level I thought the film was not only extremely well done but beautifully shot. Filmed on location in North Wales in England, Polanski not only researched his subject well but spared no cost in the production of the film. The actors costumes and the sets were lavish for its time and it provided a rich and colorful tone for the viewer. The tragedy of MACBETH, one of the Bard's greatest and toughest plays to understand and come to terms with fared remarkably well on this film version. As an English Literature major in college years ago, my professor required the we choose one of Shakespeare's plays and do a complete and thorough analysis on the work, I chose Macbeth and I found it not only challenging but quite difficult to understand the exact meaning of Shakespeare's beautiful old english language. It was a blessing that Polanski's film was available in the college library and I checked it out and saw the movie a couple of times before writing my paper on this complex character. I found the movie a lot easier to understand than the play itself and it helped me tremendously when I started to write my paper.
Although this version is quite bloody and shocking it doesn't diminish from the striking elegance and beauty that the film clearly shows. The movie has a bleak, dark and morbid feel to it and that is exactly as it should be I think. This is not a happy and sappy tearjerker or a comedy but a frightening, compelling, chilling and almost horror story of obsessive power, deceit and overbearing jealousy by Macbeth himself when he kills the King of Scotland so that he can take the crown and throne all for himself which is when his troubles begin and it consequences lead to his eventful downfall. I recommend this film adaptation not only to Literature majors but to everyone who has ever had a love of Shakespeare. The acting is splendid and the cast is first-rate and the language which Polanski adpated from the play makes it failry easy to follow and understand the plot and what each character says. That said this version of MACBETH is not for the faint of heart but then again the other versions of the play are not either. It was clearly to see that Shakespeare never intended for his Macbeth to be a subtle and forgiving character. The grotesqueness of the film is I believe an indispensable ingredient in understanding the complexity and darkened soul of this disturbing and unremorseful king. I recommend that you read the play before watching the movie just so that you have a general understanding of the plot and therefore will appreciate the film all that much more.
Movie Review: Vaulting Ambition
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a terrific cinematic adaption of one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. The film is also known as "The Tragedy of Macbeth", or sometimes "Roman Polanski's Macbeth". Set in early medieval Scotland ( although filmed, I understand, in Wales ), this is a well-known tale of the ruthless ambition of a young noble, Macbeth, who is goaded into acts of evil by his scheming, manipulative wife. Macbeth literally murders his way to the throne of Scotland. Of course, we know what happens to those who "live by the sword" !British actor, Jon Finch, has the title role, and he expertly peels away the various levels of his character's personality--his Macbeth is no cardboard villain. His performance is more than matched by Francesca Annis as Lady Macbeth, whose twisted mind and blood-soaked hands drive her to madness. Performances by other members of this primarily British cast are all fine, with Martin Shaw particularly effective as Banquo.
The other "star" here, of course, is Polanski. The story of Macbeth, and the times in which it occurred, were brutal, primitive, stark--wars were constant--men settled disputes with swords, daggers, axes and maces--death was not heroic or pretty--women and children could be victims as well. Polanski portrays this environment with as much matter-of-fact authenticity as possible. There are certainly some gory scenes, even by current cinema standards, and the final battle between Macbeth and his sworn enemy Macduff is far from some of the choreographed sword fights in Hollywood movies. The spare landscape and ancient castles add to the atmosphere--for interior scenes, light is used very sparingly, to add to the mood and sense of foreboding.
The scenes with the three witches are creepy and effective.
I do have one question. The credits indicate that the script was written by Polanski and noted drama critic, Kenneth Tynan. Doesn't William Shakespeare deserve a little credit here ? Those soliloquies sound awfully familiar !
The DVD exhibits a decent, occasionally hazy, colour wide-screen picture. I was concerned at first when I noticed a vertical line on the right of the picture, but it disappeared, and the rest of the print seemed fine.
There have been numerous versions of this classic play, and I'm sure there will be more. How long before Kenneth Branagh decides that we need a new version on film ? In the mean time, Polanski's "Macbeth" gives us a totally engrossing, if bleak, cinematic experience.