Is Shakespeare A Fraud?

In spite of a couple of bad reviews about the new movie Anonymous, my girlfriend and I, who both majored in Shakespeare at university, went and saw it on its first day of screening and actually love the controversial flick!

First of all, two thumbs up to the bold German-born director Roland Emmerich who had the guts to question the authenticity of the Bard's works. He must have already foreseen the numerous Shakespearean scholars who would be up in arms after seeing this movie - including James Shaprio, English Professor, Columbia University, who also wrote a negative op-ed piece in The New York Times - when he shot the film with a screenplay that was written some 10 years ago. It's also hard to believe that this is the same director behind such Hollywood epics as Independence Day, 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow.

I can fully understand why there's such an uproar. Not only was Shakespeare, the greatest writer and playwright of all times, portrayed as a total fraud, but he was an illiterate buffoon, a scheming blackmailer and murderer, and a whoring commoner with no scruples. This is not the first time that the authenticity of Shakespeare as the real author of his plays is being challenged. Sigmund Freud, Henry James and other notable greats have also raised the same doubts. But Emmerich explored the big question mark in great depths.

But whether you agree with this premiss at all, the strongest merit of this movie is that it's so well done and written in such a witty way that even the Bard himself would have approved in spite of the atrocious defamy of his reputation! I love the Shakespearean themes of the 'play within the play';' the use of the Prologue with Sir Derek Jacobi; the female roles played by male actors in the Elizabethan era; the interactive nature of the plays being staged; a quick glance at some of the most famous scenes from Shakespeare's plays being staged in the movie, including Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, Richard III, Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar and many others; and The Globe Theatre filmed in its full glory.

Also, who could dispute the excellent English cast? Vanessa Redgrave played the older Queen Elizabeth while her daughter Joely Richardson (of Nip, Tuck fame) played the younger monarch. But the most pleasantly surprising performance came from Welsh actor Rhys Ifans (best remembered as Spike in Notting Hill) who played the middle-aged, but still dashing, pensive Duke of Oxford. By playing such credible characters who are distinctly different from movie to movie, Ifans's acting excellence should be admired.

I don't believe the plot has any truth to it, but I would highly recommend this movie because like all other admirable works of art, this film is both provocative and irresistibly attractive and entertaining at the same time. The greatest line in this movie is, "All art is political, otherwise, it's only decorative." The flashbacks and the many characters in their young and old forms can be confusing at times; so, try to go see this movie when you're in top form!

A Movie That Connects With You Emotionally

Earlier this week, I attended an advanced screening of the movie The Way starring Martin Sheen (of Apocalpyse Now and West Wing fame) and was written and directed by his son Emilio Estevez (Bobby). I'm not a very easy audience to please, but I have to admit that there are no words that can possibly do justice to this movie - the flick is close to perfection!

Pilgrimages have long been the subjects of movies, but this Christian pilgrimage to El Camino de Santiago is different. This is a journey of life - as the movie's promotional tagline sums it all up: "Life is too long to walk it alone."

The four pilgrims who are the protagonists of this film all embarked on the journey for different reasons. Tom, the Californian ophthalmologist (Sheen), wanted to walk it alone because he wished to remember his deceased son Daniel (Estevez) with whom he never managed to get along. The father never understood the son's "the life you live and the life you choose" philosophy. Along came Dutchman Joost (Yorick van Wageneingen) who's innately kind, but could be annoying because he was stalking Tom and chose to embark on this pilgrimage only to try to lose some weight because his wife refused to sleep with him. Then there's the bitter, chain-smoking and self-deprecating Canadian Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger of Spider and Combat Hospital fame), who went on this trip to run away from her abusive former husband and the pain of aborting her baby. Her resentment of the boomer generation explained why she kept calling Tom 'Boomer' throughout almost the entire journey. And about three-quarters of the way, the three of them met Jack (James Nesbitt), the Irish writer who had a writer's block and was looking for inspiration and material.

The movie is full of metaphors and ironies - of life, relationships, love, family, friendship, racial tolerance, inter-generation conflicts, motherhood, religious faith and many others. There are many breathtakingly beautiful shots of the Spanish scenery, but it's the emotional connection that the movie makes with its audience that becomes a flawless memory. This is a movie that will make you laugh and cry many times during the two hours.

After Bobby, which earned a long standing ovation at its debut in the Venice Film Festival in 2006, nobody will ever doubt Estevez's ability to write and direct a good movie. But The Way has just made him one of the most respected writers-directors of North America. At the question-and-answer session after the screening of the movie, Estevez said that he's glad that the audience liked his movie because he felt this was a great story of his own life and family that he needed to tell. And what a story - one that connects with us on many levels. The audience at Varsity Cinema was also classy enought that nobody asked Sheen and Estevez any questions relating to Charlie Sheen.

I understand that this movie will be shown in Canadian cinemas next week. Please do yourself a favour and don't sit on the couch and wait to see it on DVD - go to the cinema and share Estevez's passion! It will make you a happier and more fulfilled person!