So, after watching The Reduce Shakespeare Company perform a rap song based on Othello, I’m giving serious thought to watching a movie of the actual play. Is there any particular version I should see first? The library I work at has the Laurence Fishburne version, a stage version from South Africa that was apparently a big deal when it premiered, and another version that didn’t stick in my mind. I’ve also heard of a version taking place in a modern day high school.
So, like I said before I rambled off, is there any particular version I should watch first?
While I must admit at the outset that I’ve never seen the other versions, Fishburne rocks. The whole productions is gorgeously filmed, well acted, and the soundtrack is one of the most frequently played albums on my I-Tunes list. I loved it.
Yeah, the Fishburne one was pretty good. Better, I have to say, than the Olivier version - not because of anything wrong with Olivier, but just because of changing styles in cinema and acting. Unless you’re a fan of older movies, you’re probably going to be so distracted with the “stilted” speech and direction that you’re not going to follow the story or language well (although Othello is one of the easier plays to understand.) The Fishburne one is done in a more modern, naturalistic style that you’ll probably “get” better.
O is…sort of ok. Like most “reimaginings”, I found myself distracted by “translating” it in my head. “Oh…so the basketball team is like the army…Oh, so the coach is the Duke? Odd choice…” I can’t really sink into the story on its own merits - I keep comparing it to the play.
For sheer Gawdawfullness, check out this version from 1989. Yep, that’s Isaac from The Love Boat as the moor. Scary!
However, the very **best **version available on film, IMHO, is the Royal Shakespeare Company production directed by Trevor Nunn, made in 1990 and set during The Civil War. They didn’t screw with it too much, so I had no problem with the date change. Ian McKellin as Iago, Imogen Stubbs (Lucy in Sense and Sensibility) as Desdemona, Zoe Wannamaker (Cassandra from Doctor Who) as Emelia - just a stunning cast.
Unless they ever release the Patrick Stewart negative casting play on film, this is as good as it gets.
The Welles version is superbly acted but it has two problems. First, Welles himself plays Othello. This wouldn’t be uncommon at the time but more modern interpretations have Othello played by a black man. The second thing is that it was a troubled production and the quality of the film suffered. It feels a lot like a stage production put on the screen.
If you like the play you won’t have any complaints about Welles, I just think that a more recent production may be a better choice.
I’d just like to comment here that the “Fishburne” version is actually the Kenneth Branagh version with Kenneth playing Iago, and fabulously well, at that. Branagh usually plays the heroic & sympathetic characters, and it’s a treat to see him in a full villain role. I don’t recall offhand who played Desdemona, but my recollection is that she was pretty hawt…
No kiddin’? Hmm, I thought it was another of KB’s productions-see what comes of posting from work on my phone? Stupid Windows Mobile IE doesn’t support multiple windows, so no IMDB up for reference! Kenneth pwnd that movie, though…
No, it was most definitely not a Branagh production or direction effort. It wasn’t nearly as good as any of the Shakespeare Branagh has directed! His is truly an admirable talent, and he’s so much better at making Shakespeare accessible without dumbing him down than any one else out there in film right now. (Please, nobody mention Love’s Labor’s Lost. I don’t know what happened there. Even a master gets one freebee, right?)
It was a directorial debut by Oliver Parker, produced by no one I recognize.
Gamer 1337 for “owned,” as in Branagh blew the rest of the cast outta the water. Man, I love his Shakespeare and I wish he’d get going on some of the other plays–I can give a pass on R&J, it’s been done–I’d love to see him tackle Lear or Macbeth in movie form.
I think we need a Shakespeare movie thread… dum de dee…
As we are (or rather you were) talking of Othello, could I ask: Is there any particular reason why Othello is ‘Moorish’ in the play? His Moorish heritage is treated with a little contempt, but he isn’t dishonourable, more just easily duped, so it doesn’t seem to be making a racially derogatory point about Moors.
Is his ethnnicity mainly incidental?
I saw it for the first time last night (stage prodcution) and his Moorishness was less important than I’d expected, that’s all.
