My Freshman year of high school I was introduced to the beauty of William Shakespeare, when my english class took to studying the tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Immediately we followed the story into Zeffirelli's 1968 rendition, a true classic. With 16 year old Leonard Whiting as Romeo and 15 year old Olivia Hussey as Juliet. I fell upon a copy of it in my local bookstore and immediately jumped at it. Now years have passed and I find myself pulling it out and popping it into my VCR. As years have fallen since I took to studying the beautiful language and magnificent stories I have grown to respect the man, the story, and the luscious history behind it. Outside it is a glorious day as beautiful as it would have been centuries ago on the day the fictionalized characters Romeo and Juliet wed.
The script of the film is a difficult one to assess for it holds still to the language of Shakespeare. Historians have studied it from the beginning to this day as to how the origin of it all began. With the developing Elizabethan language and the dramatist Shakespeare was, he seemed to come up with a more passionate tragedian language homage to many of his tragedies as well as a foundation for his other plays and sonnets. The actors as well chosen for the roles carried the hard language extremely well, their diction, pronunciation, and
This is definitely a tragedy, a drama but a romance first and foremost.
Giving the characters are set at a very young age around 15 or 16, with all of the teenage angst and dramatic elements brought on by puberty. It is only fitting that of the two Juliet be the most spoiled, whiny, and dramatic. Olivia Hussey was dead on in her performance. Though she did carry herself well as the ill-fated Juliet, she tended to whine through the more darker themes, as did Leonard Whiting. The film portrayed all aspects of what teenage hormones and true love can do to a person. To me they were in that stage of the relationship where the only two people who mattered were themselves, they seemed enflamed by love's selfishness that ultimately destroyed them. The two young actors did a wonderfully impressive job, taking on a language most foreign to us all. They were brave in the way of giving themselves completely to the roles, often in a vulnerable state they gave freely to the story. As did the other actors, especially John McEnery as Mercutio and Michael York as Tybalt. Visually the sword fights were brilliantly fascinating and realistic. The one long sword fight between Mercutio and Tybalt and then Tybalt and Romeo had me on the edge of my seat. Incredibly well choreographed and performed. The setting in Italy was beautiful the old stone buildings and walls that lined the dirt paths. Though in entire film there seemed to be a smoky atmosphere all throughout the scenes. And I really loved that, a sort of darker element foreshadowing the untimely end. The costumes were brilliant, so full of life and beautiful. Colors in every corner of every piece of fabric. They added a warmer balance to the films darkness. Franco Zeffirelli really pulled together all the elements to bringing the world of Shakespeare to life. He brought this magical atmosphere of Romeo and Juliet on the screen that swept you into it.
From a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being bad and 5 being superior, rating on the acting between Leonard Whiting, John McEnery, and Michael York I give a 5. Olivia Hussey, did actually hold herself very well, but her constant whining often put me back. So I'd give her a 4. The script being a Shakespeare classic of course a 5. The directing was very lively and colorful, a 5. The only true technical aspect would have to be the sword fighting and in which case I would rate a 5. And the overall effect of the film, the atmosphere being a classic, a 5.
Any Shakespeare historian of course would have the grandest time with this untimely classic. And anyone intrigued by literature or perhaps a literary major would appreciate this. But it's difficult to say who would truly enjoy such a film. Shakespeare has always been a controversial subject of sorts, and it's often hard too find people who will truly appreciate it for all it is. But I would love to introduce him to anyone with an open mind.
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