Hamlet (1990)

In the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 27, there’s a little-used passage in which the Levites lead a liturgy of curses.  The Levites shout out “Cursed be he who . . .”  Then all the people respond, “Amen.”  Some of these cursed actions are in unmentionable territory these days — they make old ladies in the pew blush and parents rush to cover their children’s ears — because everybody wants a syrupy sermon about change you can believe in and your best life now.  But there the unmentionables are, in the Bible that you want your kids to read and imbibe so badly, said out loud by all of the people.  Old ladies included.

Now one of these is “Cursed be he that lieth with his father’s wife,” and this for some reason came to our minds while watching this version of Hamlet.  It’s a pedestrian version, manned by Mel Gibson, who is as charismatic as usual, but then it gets to the part where Hamlet jumps on top of his mother and then she kisses him.  The whole scene is clearly incestuous, influenced more by outdated Freudian psychology rather than by Shakespeare’s words.  Which got us to thinking.  Should a movie ever portray something like this?  That’s ever, even in a negative light. We mean, it’s one thing to write about it, but another thing to bring it before someone’s eyes.  Or is it?  Clearly the Bible speaks of it, yet it is communicated in a wholly different medium than film.  Anyway, the incest scene overshadowed everything else for us.  It is disgusting.

Anyway, to this pedestrian version of Hamlet.  It’s set in medieval Europe, where everyone looks like they just got off the set of Braveheart.  Mel Gibson has a beard.  Tim Burton’s wife goes crazy, which happens in just about all of the other movies she is in.  The final battle scene is tragicomic, with Hamlet, fresh from returning from England, renewed and confident, being tragically tricked.

It did strike us that the last thing Hamlet does before dying is kill his uncle, which is taking the law into his own hands and preparing the way for foreign invaders (Fortinbras’ Norwegian army) to take over Denmark.  This is important, especially for this movie version, which completely cut out the subplot about Fortinbras.  Hamlet is a revenge play about deception and madness in the high courts of a kingdom.  The tragedy of the play is not just Hamlet’s woes turned into his own death.  It is not simply about an individual’s woes, but the woes of the family, the court, and the entire kingdom due to murder.  By the end of this play, Claudius’ murder of Hamlet’s father affects the whole of Denmark.  The entire kingdom loses its king, has its ruling family succeed in killing each other, and is invaded by foreign enemies.  Murder in high places has caused the downfall of the state, the king’s family, and the individual (Hamlet).  This movie version eliminates a lot of that depth, which, without the Fortinbras episodes, instead focuses almost completely on the individual’s collapse.  Well, that and his incestuous relationship with his mother.

Entertainment:7

Intelligence:3

Morality: 0