Macboring: Roman Polanski's Film Adaptation of Macbeth
...ard spiral of deceit and betrayal. Polanski’s adaptation of Macbeth was a fairly good one. The script retains the emotional, poetic, and relevant qualities included in the Shakespearian work, while disposing of unnecessary dialogue. Jon Finch, who speaks Old English as though it was his native tongue, plays the title role brilliantly. Lady Macbeth is, perhaps, the most realistic character in the movie. Her devotion to her husband and grim determination are clearly visible and sincere to the audience. The acting in this movie is superb, as are the sets. Each set is detailed to the extent that one would barely know the movie was made in 1971. However there are two basic flaws in the technical aspect of this movie. The first is the clumsy camera work. The angles and movement of the camera suggest a child filmed the movie. The other flaw is the bad lighting. In movies, light should add to the mood of the scene. It seems, however, in this movie, light was merely a necessary evil, not to be explored or expanded but, simply, added on to the scene for the sole purpose of the audience’s ability to see what is occurring in it. The combination of these two mistakes makes watching the movie a very hard thing to do. Roman Polanski’s emphasis and glaringly graphical portrayal of the violent and sexual aspects of Macbeth are an attempt to show the brutality of humanity. He focuses on the daggers piercing throats, the guards raping the servants, and the final decapitation of Macbeth. Through this, he shows the audience the true nature of the harm that human actions can cause. Perhaps these scenes are also to arouse interest in the audience member who often finds his/her attention drifting from the movie to other thoughts. Overall, on a scale of one to ten, I would give this movie a six. The script a...