Celebrating the Bard

Banner Film Fest Club of Trivandrum is conducting its monthly film festival on Sunday (November 12) at Lenin Balavadi in Vazhuthacad, Trivandrum. The films to be screened are based on the four stories of William Shakespeare. So, the club has decided to call it the Shakespeare Film Festival.

The fest starts at 10.30 am with the screening of the film Macbeth directed by Justin Kurzel. The film starts with the funeral of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s child, with both parents grieving their loss. The funeral is not in Shakespeare’s play, nor does the play directly mention the death of a child, but in Act 1, Scene 7, Lady Macbeth says, “I have given suck, and know how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me”. So the loss of a child can fairly be inferred. Macbeth, who supports King Duncan in the civil war, is leading royal troops into a final battle. Macbeth emerges victorious, but there are heavy losses, including many boy soldiers. The battle is observed by three women with a small girl and an infant. 

King Lear at 11.30 am is directed by Peter Brook. In Peter Brook's King Lear, Paul Scofield portrays the title character, a senile old ruler, whose susceptibility to flattery proves his undoing. The premise involves Lear’s ill-fated attempts to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters — a goal that ultimately leads to tragedy. The stark terrain of Denmark stands in for England in this version, adding a brooding visual texture to the picture that exists alongside the traditional Shakespearean dialogue. Lear’s daughters are played by Irene Worth (Goneril), Susan Engel (Regan), and Anne-Lise Gabold (Cordelia); others in the cast are Alan Webb (Gloucester), Cyril Cusack (Albany), Patrick Magee (Cornwall), and Jack MacGowran (the Fool). Younger viewers and those faint at heart be warned: King Lear is one of Shakespeare’s most graphically violent works, and director Brook takes every opportunity to emphasise the carnage and gore.

The afternoon section will begin with Merchant of Venice in the direction of Michael Radford at 2.30 pm. Franco Zeffriellie’s Romeo and Juliet is the final screening film. These films have a duration of one-and-half hours. All films will be screened at the same venue.