Last week I wrote about the importance of films and understanding them. I therefore feel it is relevant to comprise a list of my favorite films. The films in this list, however, are all Shakespearean. When people think of Shakespeare, they do not usually think of film -- at least, I didn't. Fortunately, last semester I took a film class that analyzed Shakespeare on the big screen and it was quite enlightening. With the knowledge and experience I have with Shakespeare and his film iterations, here is the list of some of the best Shakespeare films that one should check out.
1. Roman Polanski's "Macbeth" (1971)
An utterly gruesome depiction of Macbeth, the film invites a number of aspects of historicity while freeing itself from the Shakespeare script. This version is absolutely haunting, for it places you in Macbeth's Scotland so soundly. Additionally, Jon Finch, I feel, soliloquizes consummately.
2. Laurence Olivier's "Henry V" (1944)
Olivier's directing debut is perhaps a hallmark of the Shakespearean screen. This film promises the viewer an accurate account of the Globe Theater during Shakespeare's time, as well as some of the most beautifully formed acting that can be imagined.
3. Akira Kurosawa's "Throne of Blood" (1957)
A Noh-style Macbeth, this film is a beautiful retelling of the play. The magic of this movie fluently translates the concepts of Macbeth to the Japanese culture. This film, however, requires a good amount of knowledge on both the Shakespearean front as well as the Noh style.
4. Baz Lurhmann's "Romeo and Juliet" (1996)
This adaption of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet has a tendency to startle older-generation Shakespeareans and confuse everyone. The style in this film is magnificently artistic. Leonardo Dicaprio made quite the Romeo, placed in a world that has transcended the strict setting that Shakespeare intended.
5. Olive Parker's "Othello" (1995)
Laurence Fishbourne and Kenneth Branagh take the helm as quite a "friendly" duo. I find myself mesmerized by Branagh's (Iago) ability to deceive Fishbourne (Othello), and this makes for quite an intense film.
6. Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet" (1996)
This four-hour monster of a film is dug until completion. Branagh takes enormous strides to set his scene, which is abstract to Shakespeare, and forms from it the complete play -- something that not many people would ever want to do. The acting is superb, the scene is superb, Branagh is superb.
7. Ralph Fiennes "Coriolanus" (2011)
I feel that never before has one of Shakespeare's more political plays been put in such an applicable setting. A modern day adaption of the film, this spawn of Fiennes covers the artistry within the lines Shakespeare has put forth while conceiving of a modern day equivalent.
8. Michael Hoffman's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1999)
A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of the most dynamic plays that Shakespeare has ever written, yet Hoffman is able to conceive of it in such a fluid manner. If one is informed enough in the play, they will see just how mature Hoffman makes the film.
9. Kenneth Branagh's "Much Ado about Nothing" (1993)
As you can tell, I am a huge fan of Branagh. Once you think he is a stark example of acting brilliance, he becomes a director. This film does just that. He employs the comedy Shakespeare had in mind with the comedy that only a camera can induce to send comic and romantic messages.
10. Orson Welles's "Othello" (1952)
He might have been an inflated ego on legs, but he certainly lived up to this ego; Welles's "Othello" is a true testament to his acting capabilities. All of this reverence and we haven't even got to his directing. The fact is that Welles's "Othello" presents a revolutionary film style. Just watch this film and you will see where current directors have borrowed from him.
Note that this list is not complete, meaning this is not a list of the top 10 Shakespearean films. This is a list of 10 great Shakespearean films. There is a myriad of films that could be on this list, and I urge you all to look for them!
