Macbeth
And you thought Shakespeare was boring in high school!
Australian director Geoffrey Wright (Romper Stomper) has transported the story to the streets of present-day Melbourne, creating a brilliant and bloody version of the timeless tragedy of deadly ambition and its consequences. In the aftermath of a gang dispute, Macbeth (Sam Worthington), high-ranking gang member, receives a hallucinatory prophecy from three teenage witches that he will become king. The idea planted in his mind, he is spurred on by his wife Lady Macbeth (Victoria Hill) to murder the current king, Duncan (Gary Sweet). Their ploy is successful but Macbeth’s allies are suspicious and begin to desert him after he descends into murderous tyranny and madness, as Macduff (Lachy Hulme) and the former king’s son plot to overthrow him.
The melding of the modern gangster genre with the language of Shakespeare is done surprisingly well. The film sticks as closely as possible to the text of the original play, and it is filmed in gritty, realistic style, with the exception of the surreal and erotic scenes involving the witches and the slow-motion gun battle at the end. Despite the modern action-film setting, the average moviegoer might struggle to interpret the language, so you do need to be familiar with the original play or at least the language of Shakespeare to understand a lot of the plot. However, I loved this highly original, dark film and found the acting excellent (Sam Worthington is suitably disturbed and charismatic as he portrays Macbeth’s dark desire for power and growing madness), and would urge anyone who has ever studied the Bard to see it. I guarantee you won’t find it the least bit dull this time around.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 daggers
Clementine Menz
