This transfer of MacBeth to a timeless African coastal village illustrates that political ambition and the consequent violence are universal issues across time and space. The use of local people, apparently not only untrained as actors but unfamiliar with film and television, results in an entirely convincing and fascinating depiction of the culture in which the action takes place. The brilliantly conceived framing, filming and editing of the scenes in the desert and coastal environment is achieved with a stark and simple style somewhat reminiscent of Bergman. An occasional narrator keeps the whole thing on track and fully anchored to Shakespeare's drama. Nevertheless, the details of the interpretation are never less than surprising and compelling. Highly recommended.
2 Reviews
Primal Screen
erec30 May 2003
Warning: Spoilers
(potential spoilers) Abela went to Madagascar to shoot his film adaptation of Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. His actors were the Antroyds, a local tribe of fishermen. In Madagascar, the text becomes closer to nature, acting is sober (sometimes, e.g. the scene of the sacrifice, action becomes fiction, as the killing is real), the film looks like some early black and white movies, becomes primitive in many ways, returns to the roots of cinema.
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