William Shakespeare’s Hamlet adapted and directed by Kenneth Branagh is a beautiful movie. The DVD quality was great, and the scenery and costumes — it’s just visually stunning (even if the dialogue went over my head as I sat and multitasked). Also, Kenneth Branagh is so compelling as Hamlet. When he spoke, or even when he just entered a scene, I was drawn to the screen.
I watched the introduction to the DVD by Kenneth Branagh and learned that it was filmed in 70 mm, which obviously is why it looks so crisp and gorgeous (although that’s about all I can say — it looks different than a typical DVD and I like it).
I watched all four hours of this movie, but when I first put the disc in, and noticed on the menu that it was disc one of two (which Netflix hadn’t indicated, or I missed it), and I watched a few moments, but then I decided that I should stick with the more manageable Mel Gibson version.
After seeing just a bit of the fantastic cinematography in Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet, the Mel Gibson one just didn’t grab me. I was superficially distracted by the big fat braids that Glenn Close and Helena Bonham Carter wore in early scenes. Also it just seemed dark and filmy as compared to the bright and beautiful long version.
That said, after watching all of the long movie, I did watch a bit more of Mel Gibson’s version, and I did find it a little easier to follow. Maybe they spoke more slowly or cut more of the extraneous words, but it was a little more comprehensible.
So, after all that, do I “get” Hamlet? Not really. But something about that dramatic 70mm filming really appealed to me, even if it ended up just being background noise as I worked on my computer, so I think that I might be watching it again sometime. I’m not a film buff who notices that sort of thing in general, so since it made such a strong impression on me, I can say it’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.
What about you? Have you enjoyed Hamlet on screen?
Managing Editor Jennifer Donovan also blogs at Snapshot about life with her tween daughter and preschool son.
I’ve seen the Kenneth Branagh version multiple times, mainly because of Kate Winslet’s fantastic acting at Ophelia.
I’ve been wanting to watch the Mel Gibson version for years now, but for me Hamlet is so intense that I can only watch it so often.
That is a big time investment! But one that I would like to make… maybe sometime soon… or realistically sometime later.
Hmmm–the Mel Gibson one is the only one I’ve seen, and I liked it well enough to watch it several times. I need to check out the Branagh one when I have plenty of free time on my hands. : )
I haven’t seen Branaugh’s Hamlet, but I have seen his Much Ado About Nothing, and I do love it. I have Mel Gibson’s Hamlet like it very much, although it isn’t a movie I would just pop in to watch for fun. The darkness of the lighting matches the darkness of the story, so I thought that it fit very well. It was interesting to see the difference in the lighting on Hamlet verses the that on other characters. Hamlet’s is always very dramatic while others are much softer, much more even. There were several places where scenes were out of order, but that is understandable considering the differences in stage and film. I thought the costumes and hair (large braids and all!) were appropriate for the time period, but I do agree with Jennifer that they were…um…different! The only thing that I questioned was Glenn Close as Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. In real life she is only 9 years older than Mel Gibson, and while they may have married earlier in life than in our society (I don’t know for sure!), she just seemed too young for the part. At times she seems like a teenager in love in her interaction with Claudius. Just seemed wrong to me. Other than that a great movie.