Bibliofreakblog

Titus

Though it’s not my favorite Shakespeare play, the 1999 movie version of Titus Andronicus, which is simply titled Titus, has long been my favorite Shakespearian screen adaptation.  

Allow me to address first why this movie rocks, and then why the play is not so good.

First of all, the styling is awesome.  It’s sort of a Punk Rock Romanesque feel, combining breastplates with combat boots. The cinematography really hypes up the sensational aspect of a lot the scenes, such as when Lavinia’s uncle finds her when Demetrius and Chiron have finished with her.  Instead of just cutting off her hands, they bind her wounds and replace her hands with sticks.  This really goes a long way to heighten the creep factor.  

Anthony Hopkins (Titus) and Jessica Lange (Tamora) are their usual good selves, but Alan Cumming (who played Nightcrawler in X-Men 2) really steals the show, right from the beginning in his neo-Nazi styling.  He looks (and acts, for that matter) like a weird sexualized gothy version of Peewee Herman.

But, on the other hand, like I said, this is not Shakespeare’s best work.  It’s his earliest tragedy and you can tell that this is a Shakespeare who has not yet hit his stride.  It’s also his bloodiest work (which I’m O.K. with, but it often isn’t performed for that reason).  Titus makes a lot of obvious, unsubtle mistakes, which leads to the downfall of his family.  However, his motives for these mistakes remain either superfluous or unclear.  So too are some characters, like Demetrius and Chiron easily manipulated.  After arguing that they both love Lavinia, Aaron (the evil Moor) suggests that they both just go rape her.  And they think that’s a swell idea.  

It lacks the finesse of Othello, or the passion of Romeo and Juliet or the force of Hamlet.

But this version is still highly recommended by me.