Othello Film Review
Olive Parker's 'Othello' is a beautifully filmed movie based on the play by William Shakespeare. Parker manages to capture the passion and love between Othello and Desdemona and even plays it up, making the betrayal and tragedy more powerful. Various methods, such as camera angles and focuses, background music, setting, and actors' interpretations all contribute to the mood, feeling and understanding of the movie. To keep Othello at a reasonable two hours, Oliver Parker has only used around half of Shakespeare's original text in the screenplay. Yet, the movie still runs smoothly and remains faithful to the play's central themes and conflicts. It still gives a full sense of time and events by using some dialogue as voice-overs between scenes and montage sequences to explain what is not shown on screen. A gifted general, the Moor Othello (Laurence Fisburn), is commissioned to fight the Turkish army at Cyprus. He has just promoted Cassio (Nathaniel Parker) to lieutenant and Iago (Kenneth Branagh) is furious. Iago soon makes plans to cause Othello's downfall and shatter the relationship between the Moor and his wife, Desdemona (Irene Jacob). 'For sheer impact, this Othello can stand side-by-side with the versions brought to t
Roderigo and Iago's sudden shouting cuts through the quiet air, and Brabantio's nightmares add to the expectation and dread. When Iago expresses his hatred towards Othello, there is also the use of symbolism through the chess pieces. 'In this version, Parker has chosen to focus on the character's sexuality. Branagh is a master of Shakespeare, having previously directed 'Henry V' and 'Much ado about Nothing'. Exactly as Parker intended, his Othello is heightened so that he is at least cinematically equal to Branagh's Iago. Altogether, Oliver Parker has done a wonderful job in bringing Othello to life. A dark boat passes silently through the misty gloom, carrying quiet passengers, one of which holds a tragedy mask to his face. As Othello and Brabantio confront each other in the duke's room, we often see Othello in focus, while the back of Brabantio's head is foregrounded and out of focus. This is made even more dramatic by the camera zooming in on his face, as he makes contact with the audience and only the audience, as if sharing his innermost feelings and thoughts with them. It is during Iago's soliloquy that his real personality is revealed. Parker adds a nice touch to the movie at the end when he replays this sinking with the real characters that they represent, bringing the movie to a close and adding a sense of finality. He seems unsure and unhappy at having to give up Cassio. Even better, anyone can watch and not only watch, but understand the movie, which isn't easy when dealing with Shakespeare. Though he may not read the lines as well as his predecessors, Fishburne's visual presence on the screen is stunning. Parker also employs the use of a flashback to represent the happier days of the past.
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Acceptance Essays
