HAMLET 1996
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1998 Timothy Voon
2 :-) :-) for the Prince of Denmark
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Julie Christie, Richard Briers, Nicholas Farrell, Kate Winslet, Michael Maloney, Brian Blessed, Rufus Sewell, Billy Crystal, Jack Lemmon, Charlton Heston, Gerard Depardieu, Rosemary Harris, Timothy Spall, Reece Dinsdale, Robin Williams Director: Kenneth Branagh
This version of HAMLET, will undoubtedly be remembered as the prettiest version of the Shakespearean classic. Kenneth Branagh has filled this production with more mirrors than at Tiffany's, and more rose petals than at a garden show. If you can't change the words, at least you can change the look. Not that this is bad, because décor is important in a Shakespearean play. After all, the poetry of timeless verse, needs a garden in which to sow it's timeless seed. It would take an absolute moron who can't recite lines, to destroy the language of Shakespeare, but one has to compliment Branagh and Hollywood ensemble, for delivering HAMLET with great flourish and relish.
I stood in front of the video shelf, undecided as to whether to borrow the 2 hour or 4 hour version of the feature film. Time set it's limits on my agenda and 2 got the better of 4. As I sat down, half-heartedly to watch the great play, not in the mood for Shakespeare after a weary day. Slowly, I was entranced by the lyrical spell of the dead poet. His words seemed vibrant and alive, as if calling from the grave. Hours seemed like minutes, and I began to wish I had borrowed the four-hour-for-two-days version of the play. My heart longed to hear more musings from the great courts of the Danes, where disloyal brothers murder kinsmen, to claim a crown and bed a wife, only to drive the young prince Hamlet into royal rage. For no matter how often this story is told, ‘the cat's will mew and the dog's will have their day.'
The cast includes Kenneth Branagh as an intense Hamlet, Kate Winslet as the forlorn Ophelia, Julie Christie as the unfaithful Queen Mother, Gertrude and Derek Jacobi as the murderous uncle, Claudius. With notable performances from Billy Crystal as The Gravedigger, Jack Lemmon as Marcellus, Robin Williams as Osric and many others. This is probably the most faithful version of the classic tale, and should be appreciated by all followers of the master writer. Timothy Voon e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au Movie Archives http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Tim+Voon Hugues Bouclier's Movies in Melbourne http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~bouclier/week/movies.html
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