This review is a little more detailed than the rest - but that's because I used it for a homework assignment as well and it had to be 3 pages long. If you read the whole thing, I'll be impressed!
The mark of a decent movie is it will touch you for a moment. A good movie, however, will stick with you for days, and a great movie will change your mind. By the middle of the movie, “Anonymous,” I was growing more and more upset with William Shakespeare. The dialogue, imagery, and acting, were all powerful enough to nearly convince me that one of my personal heroes was a fraud!
Very much in the tradition of the Bard himself, the film uses a frame story. The film opens up on a busy, New York Street and pans up to Broadway. An elderly gentleman steps out of a cab and walks into a theater, which is displaying a marquis reading, “Anonymous.” He is met by a young man who informs him he is late, takes the elderly mans coat, and hands him an umbrella. A curtain rises, showing the man is onstage, and he begins addressing the audience in a very powerful monologue about how Shakespeare, the most famous playwright of all time, may have never written a word in his life. The monologue states a few of the traditional conspiracy theorist’s main points – that no manuscripts were found in his own handwriting, his plays were never mentioned in his will, etc. All the while, people backstage are milling around and the camera shows a stagehand lighting torches for actors on the stage. As the elderly man finishes up his monologue, he asks the audience to allow him to paint them a different picture of history and how these things actually happened. At this, the camera zooms in, the stage disappears, and we find ourselves in 16th/17th century England, watching a group of palace guards (holding the lanterns lit) chasing a man who is holding what appears to be a book.
The dialogue in the film is very powerful. It is cleverly crafted and beautifully written. Shakespeare himself would be proud of the banter between characters. In one particular scene, a man’s wife walks in on him writing a play, and she begins to get upset with him. “Edward,” she says, “ You’re writing again aren’t you? After you promised me you’d quit!” The scene is quite emotional, and the actors portray it well, but I couldn’t help but picture a modern woman yelling at her husband because he began drinking or smoking again. Writing was this man’s vice. Some of the dialogue is so powerful, it might
The imagery (costuming and scenery) is used very effectively to create a sense of despair among the characters. The costuming seemed very appropriate for the time. No objects seemed to be anachronistic. The streets in the “city” where the majority of the film takes place are muddy and wet. There are wooden planks strewn about on the ground, acting as a sort of rudimentary sidewalk system. The sky is almost always gray and cloudy, adding to the depressing nature of the film. The writers in the story are generally poor, alcoholic philanderers. These writers live off of their plays and cannot make much money doing so. They all had dirty hands from writing with quills and inkwells. It was very easy to get into the period and experience life through these characters’ eyes.
The powerful acting from the main characters is perhaps the strongest element in the film. Rhys Ifans plays Edward De Vere, the Earl of Oxford. In the film, he is the one who supposedly wrote all of “Shakespeare’s” plays. The reason he can’t publish his works is because he comes from a royal family and it is expected that he will focus on politics. The movie uses flashbacks to show how he wanted training in literature as well as politics and fencing. He was not allowed to write, as it was deemed a sacrilege and a form of idol-worship. He called on Ben Jonson to take the plays and perform them on stage – and when the audience goes wild, Shakespeare, a man from the acting company, pretends to be the author of the plays. After seeing an audience riot against the actors shortly after the “St. Crispin’s Day” from Henry V, Edward realizes that, through his words, he can sway masses.
A few very important scenes really show the power of the actors. In a scene where Edward and Shakespeare finally confront each other, we can see the terror in Edward’s eyes. Shakespeare, a drunken actor, is threatening blackmail against a member of the royal class. If Shakespeare reveals Edward’s secret, Edward would lose his status as an Earl. He would lose all respect in the kingdom. It was a shame for a nobleman to want to be a wordsmith. He knows, however, that the world needs his plays. More than that, they need his words. In the end, he makes the ultimate sacrifice. He bargains with the Queen, and to save someone’s life, he agrees that his plays will never be published under his name. The emotion present here in these two scenes is almost enough to bring tears to eyes. The characters prove to be so worthy of our sympathy that many in the audience forgot it was just a film. The bought in to the premise, which, I must admit, was presented very convincingly,
Listening to the comments of those in the audience with me, many believed it was more of an exposé than a piece of fiction. They were convinced that Shakespeare was, in fact, a fraud. “Anonymous” was a great movie. It did not change my mind about who actually wrote Shakespeare’s works (I still believe it was William Shakespeare), but it did have many lasting effects on me. The most noticeable effect is that I will never take for granted the power of words. The pen truly is mightier than the sword. Words can calm, and words can enrage; words can inspire benevolence and incite revolutions. Words have power.
MPAA Rating - PG13 for violence and brief sexuality.
Final word: If you like well-done movies, clever period-pieces, suspenseful character-dramas, Shakespeare, or english accents, This movie is a MUST SEE.
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