Today I watched Ralph Finnes’ new adaptation of Coriolanus (even after a week of selling tickets for this film, I still cannot pronounce it right!). This is a terrible thing for a writer to admit, but my knowledge of Shakespeare extends only to the plays I studied in school. I found it strange at first that The Bard had written a play about political turmoil, but when I thought about it, many of his plays are focused around war and conflict.
It was a rather unique experience for me, going to see a Shakespeare that I didn’t know anything about. Even with the use of the original script, I found myself more-or-less following the plot. At the very least, I understood the emotions of each character. Even if I was a bit confused at times, the tension built on screen, the visuals and the fantastic acting meant that I still enjoyed it.
My favourite character was Coriolanus’ wife, played by Jessica Chastain, simply because she contrasted so much to the other characters. She was able to portray with no words at all how worried she was that her young son would live the life of a soldier, like his father. Coriolanus’ mother, portrayed by Vanessa Redgrave, really stood out as well. I like that a story written in the 17’th century can still have such strong female characters.
It’s also very clever how such an old play can be adapted to a modern day setting, incorporating modern day concerns. It’s a shame that the film hasn’t received a very wide release, because it’s clear that a lot of effort has gone into it. The war scenes don’t glamorise or shame warfare, they just show it how it is.
Not a major part of the film but something I really wanted to bring up is that many pieces of dialogue are presented in television programmes, and featured actual real life news presenter Jon Snow. It was strangely cool seeing him delivering the news in Shakespeare’s old English script!
Overall opinion - Slightly violent and very talky, but still an enjoyable, powerful epic.
Cloud verdict - 7/10.
