Product: Romeo and Juliet [Region 2] (1968)
Rating: 5.0
A great film adaptation
The classic Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is the most accessible of Shakespeare's plays, also, perhaps, the most popular and well-known. Not surprisingly, then, it has been made into many films and has had many successful and not-so-successful spin-offs -- such as the better-left-unmentioned 1996 Leonardo Dicaprio/Claire Daines disaster. This film, however, is a great adaptation and a deserved classic. Director Franco Zeffirelli is legendary for making this transition from play to film so strikingly good, and the movie is a touchstone in the history of Shakesperian cinema, and rightfully so. This 1968 film was revolutionary in several ways. It breathed new life into this classic story, which had almost been done to death in poor and lifeless interpretations. One of the main reasons for this success was Zeffirelli's decision to use actual teenage actors to portray the two lovers (which seems like an obvious idea, but which had not really been done before, middle-aged actors being previous preferred: Leonard Whiting as Romeo and Olivia Hussey as Juliet. Another stength the movie had was its painstakingly accurate representation of the Rennaisance. Other successful Shakesperian film adaptations have adapted the work of the bard into the modern world, putting the work in a modern setting with modern clothing, atmosphere, etc. This is all admirable, and well and good; however, this film goes for the opposite technique, portraying, as accurately as possible, the situations in the work as they would have been presented in Shakespeare's own time, and it does it very well. The Italian villa in which the film is set is quite striking; costumes and decorations are accurate down to the small details. One gets the feeling while watching this that it was, indeed, a long time ago -- which only serves to reinforce how timeless and perpetually applicable the story still is and always will be. The acting throughout the film is consistently well-done, not over-the-top and not listless. It contains just the right combination of atmosphere, drama, tragedy, and sexiness. An exemplary adaptation of Shakespeare and an acknowledged classic that is one of the true landmarks in the history of Shakesperian film.