Othello (2002)

Set amid the racially charged politics of London's Metropolitan Police Force, Andrew Davies's deft and gripping adaptation of Othello achieves an ideal balance of realism, contemporary relevance, and respect for the rhythms of Shakespeare's play. John Othello is a black police officer who is named commissioner after he defuses a race riot. His friend and colleague Ben Jago (Shakespeare's Iago) is furious at being passed over for the top job, and he secretly begins a plan to destroy Othello by making him believe that his new wife is having an affair.

Eamonn Walker makes Othello's tragic fall believable and moving, but the story belongs, as it often does on stage, to the villain. Christopher Eccleston's Jago is a wonderfully complex creation, defined by his wickedness but as much a victim of it as any other character. Funny, tragic, and crackling with energy, this is an unmissable performance. Credit should also go to Davies for his script--which echoes Shakespeare's without ever quoting it directly--to a strong supporting cast, and to director Geoffrey Sax, who balances the film's realism with slightly stylized touches that give more dramatic punch to key scenes. Othello offers a daring new version of a familiar story, and it succeeds both as a powerful modern drama and as a testament to Shakespeare's insight into human weaknesses. --Simon Leake Amazon.com

Othello Adaptation

This video was a great contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello. The the country's racial tension, Othello's insecurity, Desi's innocence, and Iago's master manipulation were clear for the modern audience. I still love the original, but this was great too. May 3, 2008

Great to compare with Fishburne-Branagh film version

I teach "Othello" in an intro to literature course for non-liberal arts majors; it's their only chance to study literature at my college, and I find this a well-balanced counterpart to the 1995 Oliver Parker-directed film dramatization starring Laurence Fishburne & Kenneth Branagh. My students tend to prefer the "original" with Shakespeare's language to this BBC-CBC production, but I like this for the energetic gallows humor it provides. While some of my students have seen "O," made around the same time as this Masterpiece Theatre version, this is more adult, and less teenaged in its appeal. It's grimmer than "O," and moves rapidly.

The performances of not only Eamonn Andrews and Christopher Eccleston (who I enjoyed so much in Danny Boyle's "Shallow Grave" in an earlier, equally unhinged role) deserve acclaim. Cass and Desi and Lulu (=Emilia) all do well in difficult scenes, and the conflation of the Rodrigo character into the officer pressured by Jago into recanting his testimony provides a challenging example of how a modern adaptation can alter the original plot and alter characters into this admittedly manic, compressed, and entertaining version. Issues of race, gender, class, and trust all are explored efficiently; how the storyline places Desi's earlier dalliances into her now-faithful relationship with Othello again moves the story into current sexual realism and cultural mores.

Still, even if "Othello" appears to be the play that replaces (as in my textbook anthology!) "Hamlet," it cannot be glossed or streamlined. It is a tale of unrelenting deceit and unforgiving revenge. Trendy topics aside, at its dark core, Othello remains a depressing play, and the ironies and sarcasms of Jago, as with Iago, can be disheartening as you see Desi and Othello trapped. I suspect students recoil at how evil the villain is, and how, in this 2001 version, the contemporary twist at the end only seems to emphasize how our standards may have slipped even further from those of Shakespeare's cloak-and-dagger era.

A final note: the use of technology to enhance Jago's entrapment, using cameras, stalkers, the Net, tape recorders, and good old gossip, updates the story well into our own decade. Similarly, the race riot and nod to Brutus' "I have not come to praise Caesar" speech plays off Andrews' own quiet strength as well as the scene in the restaurant where he reveals his own "race card" in another episode that makes the story even more relevant to today's multicultural but still tense urban society. And, don't forget the substitute for the handkerchief: a nimble plot device! I daresay this improves on the original-- many of my students have a hard time "believing" the awkward manner in which the Bard drops the handkerchief into the storyline! October 18, 2007

Teaching Othello and Transformation? Look no further!

I loved this "Othello" and as such, I highly reccommend it, for all that's worth. Especially if you are an English teacher looking for a successful and interesting transformation of Shakespeare's Othello into a contemporary context. This masterpiece theatre 2001 production is an excellent example of what is possible. Remember to look for the related Materpiece Theatre website resources that accompany the production.

This "Othello" has been translated into the modern language/ context of a London Met Police Department and you should be aware that this is not a direct "loyal" adaptation of Othello. It is a contemporary response to Shakespeare's "Othello" making several significant changes to the narrative detail whilst still maintaining thematic integrity. It has the potential to leave an audience divided over the ending and provoke much intelligent discussion in response. Whilst this "Othello" was made in the same year as "O", I personally believe that it leaves the Amercian film for dead. This film has a strong visual style and all the acting performances are strong. Especially Christopher Eccleston's Ben Jago with his manic asides directly to the camera which I personally really enjoyed.

Whether you watch for it pleasure or for study, this "Othello" deserves to be on your Shakespearean radar. October 10, 2007

Love it or hate it... it's clever

...and I think quite good, actually.

Don't expect Shakepeare's Othello and you won't be disappointed. This retelling of Othello dispenses with Shakepeare's poetry, replaces it with modern dialog and drops the story down into modern day London. This adaptation also uses the maybe too clever device of having Iago speak directly into the camera and letting the audience know what he's up to, a device lifted from BBC's political thriller, 'House of Cards.' If you're not a purist, it all works. While the Shakepearean language may be missing the core of the story, jealousy, obsession and power come through stunningly. November 14, 2006

A Travesty

This is a terrible adaption of Shakespeare's Othello. It's more like an adaption of someone's interpretation of Othello, one that I do not necessarily agree with. This movie steers so off-course that it doesn't accurately follow the storyline in the original Othello, thus changing everything and really not having anything to do at all with Shakespeare's play. There is virtually no acting going on in this movie. Instead, there are a lot of in-your-face shots of the characters, giving the viewers a forced set of motivations for the inevitable to happen, which are not convincing in any sense. Sure it happens in the original play, but it is not convincing enough in this version.

Instead of the climax becoming Othello's growing rage and madness, the climax in this movie is when the Iago character perches nude on the edge of a bathtub in a very gargoylesque pose. It becomes obvious why they chose this particular actor to play Iago, or Jago as he is called in the movie, with his ugly gargoylesque looks. It all goes downhill after this scene. The Iago character is constantly shown in close-up, advising viewers "This is a tragedy" or "It's all about love." I guess a viewer could never be sure since it is not obvious in this movie's plot.

Besides of the tragic element in Shakespeare's Othello, there is also a thin thread of dark humor, the misunderstandings newly weds may have with each other, the miscommunications between the sexes, the blindness of love that sometimes blows things out of porportion, the bitterness and disillusionment of older married couples. All these elements that add another dimension to Othello are completely omitted in this version, since as we are informed by the annoying Jago character, "It is a tragedy."

I would highly recommend skipping this one and watching "O" or "Switchblade Sisters" instead, two non-Elizabethan versions of Othello that are more on cue, and American-made versions incidentally, and perhaps surprisingly. December 10, 2005

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