Product Details

• Studio: Atlantic
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000006AXA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #696,933 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

83 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Adaptation--Wonderful Cast, October 20, 2003

By 

Adam Dukovich "colts_19" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Othello (DVD)

I am confused with many of the editorial reviews on the site. This incarnation of Othello is, in my mind, nearly perfect. Sure, it can't encapsulate everything Shakespeare intended, but it stays true to his themes of jealousy, obsession and power, and featured fantastic acting and production values.

What can I say about Othello that hasn't already been said in dozens of dissertations already? As one of the "big four" (Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear and Othello) it has remained a benchmark for tragedies for centuries. Some people might scoff at the film's intent to make Shakespeare accessible to the lay viewer, but it truly doesn't hurt the story or interfere with Shakespeare's always delightful prose. In short, the movie outperforms any preconceived notions one might have.

The cast is wonderful. A pre-Matrix Lawrence Fishburne stars as the Moor, Irene Jakob as Desdemona, and the infallible Kenneth Branaugh as Iago, Shakespeare's most complex and calculating villain. Often in Shakespeare plays, the villain is more interesting than the hero, and that is certainly true here. Branaugh steals every scene he is in with his coldly malevolent performance, and his asides to the audience are drenched in dread and rage. One can nearly pity the man, he comes off as so tortured. It is perhaps the best performance I've ever seen out of an actor, period. Fishburne was pretty much a nobody when the film was made, but that doesn't stop him from holding his own with Brannaugh and churning out the iambic pentameter. He hits his marks very well and is very convincing when it comes to acting with passion. Irene Jakob is not necessarily the choice I would have made for Desdemona. I would have chosen someone with a more coquettish personality. However, the fact that her loyalty is beyond question actually enhances the story by showing how obviously and irrationally jealous Othello becomes.

The production is first-rate. The sets, sounds, costumes, etc. are fantastic. One really gets a you-are-there feeling (as corny as that sounds) by watching the movie. After overstylized (and awful) postmodern Shakespeare interpretations, it is refreshing to see the world as Shakespeare himself envisioned it.

Unfortunately, the approach to involve the lay person does have a single weakness, and that is the excessive sexuality. Can we just take it at someone's word that people are deeply in love and leave something to the imagination? Sexing up Shakespeare (no pun intended) in this way just seems purely sensational, the only really problematic aspect in the film.

There are those who would call Shakespeare the greatest writer and thinker in history and there are those who would call him a hack. Thankfully, those of us in the first category can enjoy this olive branch to the second. Truly entertaining and important, and with a respect for its source and its audience, this Othello is hard to beat.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A passionate production, March 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Othello [VHS] (VHS Tape)

While the Orson Welles version is interesting both for its visual elements and fact that it was made over several years due to financial constraints, it does not match the passion and accessibility of the Fishburne-Branagh production.

Branagh's Iago is the soul of charming evil, while Fishburne's Othello is deeply moving as a man struggling against a jealousy that ultimately overwhelms him.

A third performance that rates special mention is that of Desdemona's maid (a fine actress whose name I do not recall). Although this character has virtually no lines for more than the first half of the film, she adds a sad, cynical counterpoint to Desdemona's romantic idealism.

Also, the production values--the setting, cinematography, and costumes--are excellent and serve the film well.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful modern interpretation., December 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Out of the cellar (VHS Tape)

The newest version of Othello holds up perfectly well next to its older, more respected counterparts. Kenneth Branagh is perhaps the best Iago ever put on film; his cold, poisonous gaze is truly frightening. Laurence Fishburne handles himself adequately as The Moor (and is, by the way, the first African-American to play the role in a major motion picture). Irene Jacobs struggles some with her lines, English not being her first language, but her wonderful, luminous facial expressions carry her through just fine. The play is not a complete version, having been cut a bit, but most of the trimmings were not of much importance to the plot or characters.