The play inspired the Coriolan Overture, Op. 62, by Beethoven. Christian Thielemann conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in this video from late 2011, link The overture ends quietly. I had an Angel recording of this with Klemperer back in the 1960s.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
"Coriolanus": TWC and BBC offer less known Shakespeare tragedy in a modern, war ravaed Balkan setting
Hollywood sometimes likes to take Shakespeare’s historical
plays and recast them into modern, dystopic settings.
In 2011, Ralph Fiennes directed and starred as Caius
Martius, given the cognomen of (play and
film name) Coriolanus who is banished by his own country and then bonds with
former enemies to extract a violent revenge.
The modern film is shot in Serbia, and uses the urban and
rural destruction of the long wars of the 1990s, and maybe some rough parallels
to recent history.
The “making of” extra on the Anchor Bay and Weinstein
Company (and BBC) DVD stresses that the “Rome”
in the film could be any modern city after civil strife has destroyed it.
There is an interesting bit of moral politics at the
beginning of the play (adapted by screenwriter John Logan). The plebeians, or “proles”,
are denied food and grain because they haven’t served in the military, a play
on more modern implementations of conscription.
The film played at the West End Cinema in Washington DC
late in 2011.
The adaptation (which must omit some of the play to fit into
exactly two hours) would make interesting viewing for an AP English high school
class, although some teachers might be put off by the gratuitous personal
violence, especially at the end.
The image of crossed rifles on the DVD (with fixed bayonets)
seems to provide a metaphor for modern genocidal war.
The official site is here.
The play inspired the Coriolan Overture, Op. 62, by Beethoven. Christian Thielemann conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in this video from late 2011, link The overture ends quietly. I had an Angel recording of this with Klemperer back in the 1960s.
The play inspired the Coriolan Overture, Op. 62, by Beethoven. Christian Thielemann conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in this video from late 2011, link The overture ends quietly. I had an Angel recording of this with Klemperer back in the 1960s.
This movie could be compared with the PBS film “Macbeth”,
reviewed on the TV blog Jan. 30, 2012.
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