Page 68 - Shakespeare in the Movie From the Silent Era to Shakespeare in Love

Star-Crossed Lovers / 57

with police helicopters in hot pursuit, and slipping into the church
but not being followed in by the SWAT team that spotted him.
Luhrmann's approach can be dismissed, as it was by one critic, as
"Shakespearean snack food." It can also be appreciated as an impor-
tant attempt to bring Shakespeare out of the elitist enclave of high
culture, proving even in the MTV era of the oncoming millenium
that the Bard's vision rings true.
Surprisingly, Luhrmann emphasizes the one aspect of Shakespeare
such a hip young filmmaker might have been expected to excise:
the religious element, which is more significant here (and true to
the Bard's intent) than any previous version. From the opening shot,
Luhrmann imitates Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets technique of
bringing the camera up high, assuming a God's-eye view, then shoot-
ing over statues of Christ to imply that the people below are so
involved with their gritty reality, they fail to glance up at the still-
existing spiritual presence. Though they inhabit what they perceive
to be a God-abandoned universe, He is very much with us, if less
than pleased by widespread amorality.
Romeo and Juliet constantly emphasize the "divinity" of their love;
Luhrmann films them surrounded by religious icons. When a momen-
tarily out of control Romeo kills Tybalt, he regains composure and
throws himself down in front of a statue of Jesus, begging forgiveness.
The heroes are portrayed as young born-agains, their rebellion less
against adult authority figures (who have small roles) than the non-
spiritual world everyone else accepts. No matter how revolutionary
the hip-hop approach may appear, this plays as the most reactionary of
all Romeo and Juliet movies, and is true to Shakespeare, who wanted
to communicate the concept that wild youth acts troublesome only
when they have been denied sources of old-fashioned spirituality.
Perhaps most surprising is that DiCaprio and Danes were disap-
pointing, decent enough when playing the highs and lows of emo-
tion, faring less well when required to actually speak Shakespearean
dialogue and make it ring true. Paul Sorvino, a veteran gangster-
genre star (GoodFellas; The Firm), played Fulgencio Capulet as typ-
ical Mafia-movie patriarch, while Brian Dennehy, as Ted Montague,
incarnated an equally cliched white-Establishment crime boss. More
enjoyable were Miriam Margolis, making Juliet's Nurse a comical
Hispanic rather than cockney Elizabethan, and Pete Postlethwaite,
whose Father Laurence caught the character's charming ambiguity.
In Luhrmann's directorial choices there is one truly great
moment: the playing of the couple's final scene. Romeo discovers