Hamlet....RSC....2008

This is my third view. This happens to come close on the heels of Haider, the Indian Hamlet, which is a beautiful and powerful version, Bollywood in style. Haider barely qualifies as Hamlet, though it starkly projects many plot elements. The RSC was disappointing. Though it is a pleasure to re-encounter the exquisite use of language as well as the intellectual depth, the acting of most lead characters was distressingly inadequate. The en action of insanity of both Hamlet and Ophelia becomes almost clownish, if not puerile. Though Hamlet elocutes well, his facial expressions are almost juvenile. Claudius and Gertrude are redeeming features. This is very different from my earlier takes of the RSC film, but that is how it felt this time. Haider, for all its faults, is the work of a great director, and was a breeze of fresh air, all the more for the beauty and familiarity of its setting.
OLD REVIEW