[yasr_overall_rating]
Macbeth, a Thane of Scotland, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
Death reigns supreme in Kurzel’s “Macbeth.” A child on a funeral pyre, presumably Macbeth’s child, sets the tone as death is to come first in war and then in madness, expunging all the goodness in a man who has become a demented tyrant. This is not a “modern” interpretation in the same vein of Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 “Romeo + Juliet,” but rather a monumental cinematic masterpiece heavy with impending doom, prophecy, brutality, and derangement. The hushed yet urgent speech of its characters beckons you to listen closely, pulling you into the swirling maddening storm of ego, ambition, murder, and tyranny. Kurzel is no stranger to darkness, as the true crime film “The Snowtown Murders,” can prove. He has an uncanny ability to translate quiet brooding and bleakness on screen and have audiences empathizing with cold blood killers. While I am less familiar with “Macbeth” than other Shakespearean tragedies, I do not think it bold to say that Kurzel has executed this tragedy perfectly, with simple grandeur and intimacy.
Michael Fassbender is a fearsome sight to behold as Macbeth and Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth is just as bewitching. There is near enough an alien presence about them, predatory, both on battlefield and behind sacred doors. I was unsure of Cotillard as the choice for Lady Macbeth but she holds her own next to Fassbender. Her calm sorrowful demeanor pairs well next to Fassbender’s winding savagery.
Oddly, Kurzel’s “Macbeth,” reminds me of the music genre Grunge. An often used formula in Grunge is to go from soft whispers to agonizing groans and guitar riffs, forcing you to focus, to get in tune, and then it just rips into you. “Macbeth” is not much different. While if performed on the stage the concern would be to project your voice so the audience can hear, on screen, however, words seem to have more power in hushed tones. There is an intimacy present that is harder to convey in a stage production. It is as if the audience is bearing witness to both confession and madness, hearing the pleas, whispers, and whimpers of Macbeth and Lady M. And between the whispers is the clanging and beating of metal and drums, it reels you in and tears you apart.
While Shakespearean tragedy may not be for everyone, Kurzel brings forth the essence “the Shakespeare.” Kurzel’s “Macbeth” preserves the language and core of the original play. Dialogue is sparse but powerful and well executed. The slow motion scenes of warfare are eerily artful and jarring, just as the weird sisters are ominously prophetic, and the harshness of the landscape cannot be denied. The fog and mist rolls on thick. You can feel the damp resting on your skin, seeping into your bones, nesting a fury deep within. While at times I may have needed a subtitle or two, I was completely entranced by every visual component of the film and I fully intend to see it again.
In select theaters December 18th
