Print
‘Anonymous’ is an affront to Shakespeare’s work
Wed, Nov 2, 2011 (5:12 p.m.)
William Shakespeare (Rafe Spall) gets carried away by the crowd.
The Details
- Anonymous
- Rhys Ifans, Sebastian Armesto, Vanessa Redgrave
- Directed by Roland Emmerich
- Rated PG-13
- Beyond the Weekly
- Official Movie Site
- IMDb: Anonymous
- Rotten Tomatoes: Anonymous
All of the attention and controversy focused on Roland Emmerich’s tepid historical thriller Anonymous has been about the movie’s perspective on the writing of William Shakespeare, but the big problem with Anonymous is that it doesn’t actually care about Shakespeare’s work at all. The question of whether Shakespeare in fact wrote the pieces attributed to him is treated as little more than a plot device for a tiresome Elizabethan soap opera, featuring Edward de Vere (Rhys Ifans), the Earl of Oxford, as the man behind the plays.
Emmerich (known for bombastic big-budget spectacles like 2012 and Independence Day) and screenwriter John Orloff reduce the plays to political tools divorced from artistry, spending more time on tedious, historically questionable conspiracies than on wordplay and theatricality. The loud, overwrought Anonymous is an affront to the richness and beauty of Shakespeare’s work—no matter who really wrote it.
digg
reddit
Newsvine
Fark
E-mail
Discussion:
In an effort to increase the dialogue on our stories, we will be requiring Facebook accounts to leave comments on lasvegasweekly.com stories. We believe that Weekly readers are likely to have Facebook accounts already and more apt to comment on this site with that account rather than have to create an account with us. If, however, you do not have a Facebook account, click here to sign up for one. If you have questions, comments or concerns about this new commenting policy, please let us know.
For any other questions related to commenting on Weekly stories, please read our full policy.