Hamlet
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Julie Christie, Richard
Briers, Brian Blessed, Michael Maloney, Nicholas Farrell, Kate
Winslet.
Here was a movie that promised so much. Whatever one thinks of
Mr. Branagh, he is clearly a man who loves Shakespeare's plays and
creates movies from them with spectacular results. Now he was turning
his hand to Hamlet, the unexpurgated version, telling us that so much
was missing from the previous versions which attempted to squeeze
everything in to two hours. Here would be the definitive version.
Given how much I loved Mr. Branagh's Henry V, I was waiting
for Hamlet with much anticipation. Plus it was released when
the only other thing on at the movies seemed to be The Lost
World. ("We have eight screens and they're all showing The
Lost World.") The day it opened, I was there, ready to be
dazzled by the mad Dane.
Needless to say this movie was a complete letdown, all the more so
because moments of it were astonishingly brilliant. This could have
been the definitive version because of its vision and execution;
instead it is the definitive version because of its length.
Mr. Branagh makes some interesting casting decisions: Mr. Derek Jacobi
as Claudius and Ms. Julie Christie as Gertrude were inspired. Neither
does Mr. Branagh restrict himself to just British actors, including
Mr. Robin Williams, Mr. Gerard Depardieu and Mr. Jack Lemmon in
the cast. Most of these choices worked, although Mr. Lemmon seemed to
be a bit at sea in his scenes. These were early on, however, and once
passed those, the performances were of a consistently high
calibre.
In Act II where Hamlet interacts with Rosencrantz, Guildenstern,
Polonius and more, Mr. Branagh is a joy to watch. He brings such life
and excitement to the role of Hamlet and he always manages to bring
Shakespeare's word to life. Here is someone who understands the text
and makes me see why so many people have loved Shakespeare's plays for
so long.
The most famous soliloquy, "To be or not to be", was, if nothing else,
original. Hamlet's interactions with Ophelia are intense and
confusing, both of which fit with their ensuing madness. The problem
with this production is that restraint seems to be a four letter word
to Mr. Branagh. The idea that less is more is even more foreign.
When cool, understatedness would be much more chilling than ranting
and raving, we are, of course, given ranting and raving.
To be specific, I had four major problems with Hamlet.
Firstly, the accompanying music. This was clearly in the ranting and
raving category, often so loud as to overpower everything else that
was happening. So many times throughout the movie I was dragged back
to my seat as the music yelled at me "THIS IS AN IMPORTANT SCENE" or
"OMINOUS THINGS ARE ABOUT TO HAPPEN." Letting some silence in to the
movie would have been a huge improvement.
Second, what was that scene just before intermission? Hamlet standing
on the hillside with some ants in the background as he did a Henry V
impersonation? That seemed so out of place for the whole movie and
was delivered in such a strange manner, almost as if it were trying to
make Hamlet in to something of a leader of his people rather than the
half-mad, confused person that he was.
Third, the random flashbacks. We have flashbacks for things that are
not in the play; this is not a major problem since they added a depth
to Hamlet and gave some extra background to Ophelia's descent
into madness.Two speeches, however, cried out for flashbacks and were
without them. When Gertrude tells Laertes of his sister's demise and
when Hamlet recounts his adventures en route to England much
information is contained in those speeches. They are clearly speeches
for the staging of a play four hundred years ago. Given modern
film-making techniques it would have been possible to show these
events while the speech was made. In fact, their absence was
noticeable.
My final problem was with the scenes were Hamlet's body was carried
out of the room and the funeral scene. Both of these scenes reminded
me of high school productions of Jesus Christ, Superstar.
Also, they afforded Hamlet a hero status of which he was quite
unworthy.
Overall, this is a movie well worth seeing, if only to see so many of
the scenes usually omitted from Hamlet. Also, some of the
staging is beautiful, especially the main ballroom of the palace. I
must also praise again Mr. Jacobi's performance as Claudius. He was
impeccable. There were, however, too many jarring notes to make this
the film it promised to be.
Rating: CR
© Nikki Lesley 1997