Product: Romeo and Juliet [Region 2] (1968)
Rating: 5.0
Ambiguity
I assume readers are familiar with this play, if not this movie. I do not want to spoil it for anyone. If you do not know the plot, please ignore this review of the movie.It is the very ambiguous duel between Mercutio and Tybalt that is the most satisfying thing in terms of Shakespearian pyschological insight. Tybalt and Mercutio, both accomplished swordsmen, obviously admired each other, and neither wanted to kill the other, despite the feud between their families. The staging of the fight was excellent and filled with humor. Jackie Chan would love it. Mercutio only gets killed because Romeo incompetently gets involved. It is arguable that Romeo only defeated Tybalt because he, Tybalt was filled with shock and remorse at having inadvertently killed Mercutio (at least, in this film). The ambiguous psychology also helps mitigate the big flaw, to the mature mind, of the final double suicide. Besides Romeo's love for Juliet, he has probably also realized the truth in Mercutio's admontition "You have killed me." Zeferelli gay? Who cares. Whiting was cast, perhaps for his sexual indeterminism, but more likely for immaturity. Again, mature lovers would not have killed themselves in such a situation, even in Shakespeare's time -- they would have just had an affair; "courtly love" was the euphemism. Visually, one of the most beautiful films ever made.