Film ReviewsKurzel's Macbeth
Mar 10, 2016 Anchorage Press
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Justin Kurzel's Macbeth is a retelling of William Shakespeare's masterpiece by the same title-well, a skewed retelling because Kurzel manages in one fell swoop to gut out the magic and lyrical beauty of the Bard's masterpiece. Not only does Kurzel strip Shakespeare's Macbeth of defining elements, but Kurzel has a thing or two to add to the plot, like a whole new scene that suggest the Macbeths had an offspring who died early on-why, oh, why didn't Shakespeare think of this himself? Oh, probably because it adds nothing to this plot or that of any other Macbeth (play, opera, film. etc).
Kurzel casts the talented and hunky, Michael Fassbender as Macbeth, Thanes of Glamis who, after battlefield heroics is rewarded by Duncan (David Thewlis), King of Scotland, with the additional title of Thanes of Cawdor. With this additional title, Macbeth gains higher aristocratic standing and inches a little closer to the throne. On the way home from the battlefield, Macbeth and his brother-in-arms, Banquo (Paddy Considine), run into the three sister-witches who tell the men of their subsequent fortunes, titles, and heirs (or in the case of Macbeth, the lack of heirs). As the plot unfolds, and the first prophecy comes true, the men and the viewers know that there's no stopping the predestined train wreck. News of the prophetic meeting reaches Lady Macbeth (Marion Cotillard) and the path to the throne is revealed and the regicide expedited. Most viewers are familiar with the outcome of the tale, and while Kurzel gets to the same ending as the real Macbeth, the trajectory leaves a lot to be desired.
The most crucial flaw in Kurzel's Macbeth is that he surgically removes the strength, presence, and importance of the female characters found in the real Macbeth. The director either intentionally dismisses, or perhaps misunderstands the Bard's genius, thus making the 2015 production stagnant and passionless. One can look at Shakespeare's character design as a deconstruction of human nature, which he then reassembles by combining different characteristics into the mettle of heroes and antiheroes. Shakespeare then takes these newly reconstructed characters and their personae, places them in dire situations, throws in mystery and fate, and one gets tragedies like Hamlet or Macbeth through which human nature can be observed and understood.
The core strength of the real Macbeth is in the extreme, and complicated evolution of female characters-specifically, that of Lady Macbeth. Few characters in Shakespeare's universe can hold a candle to Lady Macbeth. She is a force, filled with love, lust, passion, and completely empowered. She drives her husband and the plot. One of the greatest soliloquies in Shakespeare is Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking speech:
"Out, damned spot! out, I say!-One: two: why, then, 'tis time to do't.-Hell is murky!-Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?-Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?"
This scene, as delivered by Kurzel is taken into a waking world. Without the stream of sub-consciousness that comes with slumber, Cotillard is left to deliver the lines as if she's simply "checked out." This is a shame because Cotillard is a compelling actress, capable of delivering this and more.
Hypothetically, if viewers were to watch Kurzel's Macbeth on Amazon Prime and read the text of Shakespeare's Macbeth line by line as the movie ran, they would not only notice the new scenes and players, but they would also notice the lack of some pretty pivotal scenes, without which Macbeth is hollow and cannot transcend into the minds and hearts of viewers, readers, opera goers, etc. One such cast-out scene is that of the three witches as they "Double, double, toil and trouble " This scene is crucial to understanding Macbeth's madness and the presence of destiny as a character that waits in the shadows to be fulfilled.
Kurzel seems to put all his cinematic character-development eggs in the basket of Macbeth-the man, but one can't have a strong Macbeth without a stronger Lady Macbeth. To compensate for this, Kurzel focuses on the warring hero, and on the battlefield-with special effects that were overused in 300, and face paint that may as well been left over from Braveheart, to make this film all about the action-packed, slow-mo of Macbeth killing left and right. Off the battlefield, Fassbender mumbles his way through his lines, looking sour, mad and glum. Fassbender, like Cotillard, is a virtuous and talented actor, but under the direction of Kurzel, even his shedding of a tear at what could be just the right moment is like squeezing water from a rock.
Macbeth shows on Monday, March 14 at 5:30 p.m.
Kurzel casts the talented and hunky, Michael Fassbender as Macbeth, Thanes of Glamis who, after battlefield heroics is rewarded by Duncan (David Thewlis), King of Scotland, with the additional title of Thanes of Cawdor. With this additional title, Macbeth gains higher aristocratic standing and inches a little closer to the throne. On the way home from the battlefield, Macbeth and his brother-in-arms, Banquo (Paddy Considine), run into the three sister-witches who tell the men of their subsequent fortunes, titles, and heirs (or in the case of Macbeth, the lack of heirs). As the plot unfolds, and the first prophecy comes true, the men and the viewers know that there's no stopping the predestined train wreck. News of the prophetic meeting reaches Lady Macbeth (Marion Cotillard) and the path to the throne is revealed and the regicide expedited. Most viewers are familiar with the outcome of the tale, and while Kurzel gets to the same ending as the real Macbeth, the trajectory leaves a lot to be desired.
The most crucial flaw in Kurzel's Macbeth is that he surgically removes the strength, presence, and importance of the female characters found in the real Macbeth. The director either intentionally dismisses, or perhaps misunderstands the Bard's genius, thus making the 2015 production stagnant and passionless. One can look at Shakespeare's character design as a deconstruction of human nature, which he then reassembles by combining different characteristics into the mettle of heroes and antiheroes. Shakespeare then takes these newly reconstructed characters and their personae, places them in dire situations, throws in mystery and fate, and one gets tragedies like Hamlet or Macbeth through which human nature can be observed and understood.
The core strength of the real Macbeth is in the extreme, and complicated evolution of female characters-specifically, that of Lady Macbeth. Few characters in Shakespeare's universe can hold a candle to Lady Macbeth. She is a force, filled with love, lust, passion, and completely empowered. She drives her husband and the plot. One of the greatest soliloquies in Shakespeare is Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking speech:
"Out, damned spot! out, I say!-One: two: why, then, 'tis time to do't.-Hell is murky!-Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?-Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?"
This scene, as delivered by Kurzel is taken into a waking world. Without the stream of sub-consciousness that comes with slumber, Cotillard is left to deliver the lines as if she's simply "checked out." This is a shame because Cotillard is a compelling actress, capable of delivering this and more.
Hypothetically, if viewers were to watch Kurzel's Macbeth on Amazon Prime and read the text of Shakespeare's Macbeth line by line as the movie ran, they would not only notice the new scenes and players, but they would also notice the lack of some pretty pivotal scenes, without which Macbeth is hollow and cannot transcend into the minds and hearts of viewers, readers, opera goers, etc. One such cast-out scene is that of the three witches as they "Double, double, toil and trouble " This scene is crucial to understanding Macbeth's madness and the presence of destiny as a character that waits in the shadows to be fulfilled.
Kurzel seems to put all his cinematic character-development eggs in the basket of Macbeth-the man, but one can't have a strong Macbeth without a stronger Lady Macbeth. To compensate for this, Kurzel focuses on the warring hero, and on the battlefield-with special effects that were overused in 300, and face paint that may as well been left over from Braveheart, to make this film all about the action-packed, slow-mo of Macbeth killing left and right. Off the battlefield, Fassbender mumbles his way through his lines, looking sour, mad and glum. Fassbender, like Cotillard, is a virtuous and talented actor, but under the direction of Kurzel, even his shedding of a tear at what could be just the right moment is like squeezing water from a rock.
Macbeth shows on Monday, March 14 at 5:30 p.m.