Coriolanus

UK Release Date. 20 January 2010
Certification. 15
Running Time. 2 hours 3 mins
Director. Ralph Fiennes
Cast. Lubna Azabal, Gerard Butler, Jessica Chastain, Brian Cox, Ralph Fiennes, Vanessa Redgrave.

Rating. 60%

Review.

For his feature-length directorial debut, Ralph Fiennes undertakes the adaptation of William Shakespeare’s final tragedy, Coriolanus. A bloody tale of betrayal and revenge.

The titular Roman General Caius Martius [later awarded the title of Coriolanus] rises to prominence defending Rome from the attacking Volscian army. The Senate nominates him as Consul, but because of his brutal honesty, disdain for flattery and inability to compromise, he is incapable of winning the people's vote, and he is banished from Rome. Exiled, the embittered general forms an alliance with his former enemy, the commander of the Volscian Army, Tullus Aufidius and swears to wreak revenge on Rome at the head of an invading army. Before the assault on Rome, his mother, Volumnia dissuades Coriolanus from attacking the city, and his newfound ally kills him for the perceived betrayal. 

Coriolanus is neither as well-known nor as well-regarded as Shakespeare's great tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. The play lacks the introspection of Shakespeare's great tragedies, and Caius Martinus is surely Shakespeare's least interesting tragic hero. He is certainly the most opaque, rarely pausing to soliloquise and reveal his inner thoughts and motivation.

This is the first time Coriolanus has been brought to the big screen, and Fiennes has chosen to set the film in present-day surroundings. Adapting Shakespeare to more contemporary settings is nothing new. I can think of Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise's West Side Story [Romeo and Juliet], and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo And Juliet. Also, Joss Whedon’s modern-day retelling of Much Ado About Nothing, Gil Junger's 10 Things I Hate About You [The Taming of the Shrew] and Tim Blake Nelson's O [Othello]. 

In adapting the play, screenwriter John Logan has sharply cut the text, removing more obscure passages. Although the final cut produces a fast-moving, graphic narrative, the language does represent a barrier of sorts. It is hard going at times, and there's no denying it can be difficult to follow in places. But equally, Fiennes stages an exhilarating battle sequence and knife duel between Caius Martius (Ralph Fiennes) and Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler) on the command, "Make you a sword of me!"

 

The film is shot by cinematographer Barry Ackroyd with gritty, documentary-style realism he has brought to films by Ken Loach, e.g. My Name Is Joe, Ae Fond Kiss, and The Wind That Shakes The Barley and to the dusty, sun-bleached patina of Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker and Paul Greengrass' Green Zone.

With assured direction and accomplished performances, Fiennes has produced a vivid, bold and intelligent adaptation, with political relevance. This is the most political of all Shakespeare’s works, and I was struck by how timeless this 400-year-old play is. For Corioles, you might read Afghanistan, Iraq, Chechnya or Ukraine. The thoughts, desires, deeds and flaws of its characters remain pertinent to today, as does the machinations of political life and the demands we place on our leaders. As such, Coriolanus reaches out in a multitude of different directions, and in ways that Shakespeare could never have imagined.