Cheap Othello (1995) (Video) (Oliver Parker) Price

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Customer Reviews of Othello (1995)

Excellent, I Beseech You
There are people in this world who are some sort of stylistic purists, and even worse, have proclaimed themselves, due to an inexplicable reason (or reasons), defenders of this stylistic purity. Yes, they believe that they have the right (and I have witnessed this with my own eyes before!) to prevent anybody from performing a theatrical work of art in any other way than "it was intended." But these people don't understand, nor are aware of, several important facts. One, the creators of these works, in this case Shakespeare, are . . . dead. (They just can't come to terms with that.) We, the living, can perform a work of art any way we want (i.e., Peter Sellars and Mozart operas, etc.), . . . and simply, as is always done, let the audience decide whether the work has any artistic merit. (Sounds simple to me.) Two, a part of its greatness is that a work of art can indeed be performed -- or as the Europeans like to put it -- interpreted in any way and still maintain artistic integrity. Finally, I would truly like to know how a work of art, in this case a Shakespearean play, should be performed in order to be stylistically "pure." Is it the Ambrose series performances? Really?! I would argue that they, too, aren't stylistically pure, because, they are (1) cinematic performances, NOT theatrical performances, (2) the backdrops are Minimal and not late Renaissance/early Baroque, (3) there's filmscoring . . . Do you see where this discussion is leading to? ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE! The only way to have a "pure" performance is to go back to Shakespeare's time and see it how it was performed then. What a silly argument! What IS far more constructive and important is whether the work of art at hand, in this case Mr. Oliver Parker's performance of Shakespeare's "Othello", has artistic merit and is great. And the answer to this is an overwhelming yes! <
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>Director Oliver Parker has adapted Shakespeare's "Othello" to a cinematic production filmed "on location", as it were, as prescribed in the play in Venice and Cypress. Yes, although heavily watered-down, the dialogue loses none of its story, drama nor effectiveness, yet, perhaps, makes this production more attractive to people who might be turned off by the "heavy" Shakespearean English. The acting is superb by the entire cast: Laurence Fishburne is a commanding yet tragic Othello, Irene Jacob is his loyal wife, and Kenneth Branagh, although I am not a "big fan" of his, makes for a very effective Iago -- SUBTLY evil. Beautifully filmed, scored and acted, this cinematic production is in many ways far more effective than a theatrical production, . . . and can certainly withstand any silly criticism from any "stylistically pure" critic. You enjoy. <
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Ally 's Othello Review
I am very new to shakespeare a friend of mine has introduced it to me only recently, I have to say however this was one of the best films i have seen i a long time.I'm not one to be very enthusiastic about things but it really made an impact on me and I've watched it several times over. Kenneth Brannagh was the best villian ever and lawerance fishbourne broke my heart !! I would recommend it to anyone. :)

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I dont remember
i watched this movie in my English class because we have finished reading the book. i dont remember the movie because i was half asleep while watching it. now we have to write a film review and i have no idea what to write! i hate reading Shakespeare because i have no idea what they're talking about.