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By
WAYNE KLEIN
Venice in 1596 could be a
nasty place for a Jew. Actually, any place could
be a nasty place for a Jew in the 16th century.
Jews were forced to live in a ghetto in Venice and
any man leaving the ghetto had to wear a red hat,
which set him up for more ridicule among the
population. If you ever wonder how Jews became
moneylenders it's because they were legally
prevented from owning land. Religious tolerance
was a foreign to the peasants of 16th century
Europe as good oral hygiene was to the population.
Radford uses "Merchant" to address the ugliness of
anti-Semitism within the context of a romance
between Bassanio (Joseph Fiennes) and the young
and beautiful Portia (Lynn Collins). Radford does
a marvelous job of paring down Shakespeare's play
to its essential dramatic core. The poor Bassanio
arranges a loan from his friend Antonio (Jeremy
Irons) to travel to the young girl's estate.
Antonio's streak of anti-Semitism doesn't prevent
him from borrowing money from Shylock (Al Pacino).
It seems that Antonio's riches are tied up in sea
ventures, which won't be paying off any time soon.
Shylock makes it quite clear that he dislikes
Antonio and he demands a steep price if Antonio
fails to pay off his debt in three months; Shylock
demands a pound of Antonio's flesh.
While the entire cast gives an outstanding
performance, it is Irons and Pacino that stand
out. Irons manages to portray the contradictory
nature of Antonio brilliantly; on the one hand
he's a sympathetic friend to those who need him on
the other he can't rise above the prejudice of his
day in his treatment of Shylock. Pacino is every
bit Irons' equal in the play. Pacino is a subtle
joy as Shylock; that doesn't mean he doesn't chew
the scenery when required but he brings
considerable depth and shadings to his portrayal
of Shylock. Neither man is portrayed as a villain
but as complex individuals trapped by their
religious beliefs, race and deeply held
prejudices. Let's not overlook actress Lynn
Collins. A classically trained (as opposed to a
Method actor) American actress (hooray for Radford
for taking a risk with American actors in this
production), she's luminous in her role as Portia.
Director/adaptor Michael Radford ("Il Postino,"
"1984") does a marvelous tap dance managing to
stay true to the spirit and feeling of the play
while paring down passages that might not play
well on the screen. His direction particularly
during the concluding trial scene creates dramatic
tension by crashing the deep-seated prejudice of
each man and their circumstances in life as
Shylock demands his "pound of flesh." Radford's
rich direction portrays the renaissance in Venice
as a mixture of bordello and a rich, creative
land. The opening titles that Radford uses nicely
sets up the story providing enough information
about the time the film is set in without being
pedantic. He also nicely sets up the context of
the story with the opening titles using them to;
again, provide a wealth of background on the time
without boring the audience. In the process
Radford "modernizes" the play without taking away
from its original depth and value. The rapid-fire
pace and intimacy demand a different type of
storytelling be applied to any great play. Radford
knows his material so well that he's able to
navigate the narrow alley of Shakespeare's
language and bringing additional depth to the
material.
Any film adapted from any one of Shakespeare's
plays only works if the visual power of the film
can match the words and acting. Radford's amazing
framing and direction along with Benoît Delhomme's
lovely, rich cinematography comes to life in this
wonderfully transferred DVD. Visually "Merchant of
Venice" matches the rich detail evident in the
original play. Sony has done a great job of making
sure that the visual splendor of the film is as
robust and rich as the source material. The detail
in this high definition transfer is rich and the
images amazingly crisp. The detailed and
beautifully realized 5.1 mix benefits the moody
and magnificent score by Jocelyn Pook. The 5.1 mix
nicely surrounds the viewer in the world of Venice
in the 16th century.
We get a very good "Making of" featurette that
enlightens us as to the subtext of the play, how
Radford shaped the material while still remaining
true to the themes of the original work. Pacino,
Irons and Fiennes wax poetically about the power
of the original play, their characters, and
motivations and how Radford uses his film to focus
in on the most important themes of the original
play In the process, Radford Irons points out how
in Elizabethan England close male friendships were
still valued. In our world today there's the taint
of sexuality that undercuts those relationships.
That didn't exist as much at the time (and, in
fact, many writers misinterpret these
"relationships" within a 21st century context
claiming this or that person was homosexual
without considering the social context. Sorry I'm
digressing).
Director Radford and actress Lynn Collins (Portia)
provide an interesting discussion about the making
of the film. Pairing these two provides an
interesting contrast between how the director and
actress see the same material. Radford has quite a
depreciating sense of humor about his own work. He
discusses the rigors of shooting the film (for
example, some of his best looking sequences were
shot with very tight time constraints). Radford
discusses some of the period details that made it
into the film as well. For example, the reason we
see bare breasted women at the beginning that
Venetian law demanded that prostitutes be bare
breasted to prove they were women. Evidently
Venetian men had a tendency to sometimes favor
boys cross-dressed as women. This, of course,
increased heterosexual prostitution and at least
made the city look better to both visitors and
residents.
An amazing adaptation of Shakespeare's play,
"Merchant of Venice" features a number of amazing
performances from all the principals. To be fair,
there isn't a bad performance to be found and
that's something that can't be said of every film
adaptation of Shakespeare. The rich, beautiful
cinematography looks great on this DVD. The extras
may be meager but those that are provided have
more useful information than most two or three
disc sets put out. |
