Great Performances: Macbeth DVD

This performance expresses clearly the power of evil - Macbeth and Lady Macbeth act out their destructive ambitions in the first third of the play. However, therafter evil controls them. He becomes obsessed with blood and power; she becomes, in a sense, victimized. He now exercises the power. It is the subtle direction, reading of the lines, and acting revealing insights that we have never before seen or understood.One can get a bit stressed over the gore and violence but it does reveal what is on todays news programs.Such present-day despots and Macbeth-type political leaders are rampant, from Stalin to Mugabe, etc.

I was lucky enough to see Rupert Goolds terrifying production of Macbeth on Broadway in 2008. Goold returns to direct this film adaptation, with his original cast intact. But make no mistake. This is not a filmed play, this is a real movie, and one so good it easily could have been shown in theaters. This is the best Macbeth you will ever see. It manages to top the famous RSC film starring Ian McKellen and Judi Dench, and Roman Polanskis bleak and violent vision of 1971. Director Rupert Goold sets his Scottish Play in the Cold War with heavy Russian influences. The 1950s setting adds some delicious touches, especially when Lady Macbeth (Kate Fleetwood) greets Duncan wearing a cocktail dress and a June Cleaver apron! Goolds film evokes comparisons with Stanley Kubricks The Shining. This is Shakespeare as horror movie. Macbeths castle is a dank labyrinth of cavernous stone hallways and a dingy white-tiled kitchen, with an ancient elevator clanking up and down. Eerie sounds are ever-present, and suggest that this castle isnt just a bloody crime scene, its a haunted house. The acting couldnt be better. Patrick Stewart is the best Macbeth you will ever see. In his mid 60s, Stewart creates a moving and disturbing portrait of a man who has had a good life but throws it all away. His Macbeth does become a monster, but you pity him. Kate Fleetwoods sensual Lady Macbeth is half Stewarts age, an ambitious trophy wife tinged with madness from the very beginning. The movie really kicks into high gear when Fleetwoods Lady enters the picture, she creates a viciously evil woman who is haunted into insanity by her choice to kill. Its a knockout performance. The rest of the cast is uniformly excellent, even the smallest characters are riveting. Every Macbeth is measured by its witches, and these Weird Sisters are really scary. They are three Nurses who have seen too much of death and blood, and so they have turned to the devil. Like the twin girls in The Shining, sometimes they are suddenly there, standing still. staring. They will haunt your dreams, and the cauldron scene has to be seen to be believed. This Macbeth is a great film. There are too many amazing moments and performances to name. Buy it now, and watch it late at night, in the dark.

Macbeth is really a play about evil, and the modern wartime setting really brings that out. I noticed a big difference in my students when I switched to using this version.