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Much Ado About
Nothing
Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon ... Denzel Washington
Benedick, of Padua
............ Kenneth Branagh
Claudio, of Florence
.......... Robert Sean Leonard
Beatrice, an orphan
........... Emma Thompson
Hero
.......................... Kate Beckinsale
Don John
...................... Keanu Reeves
Dogberry ...................... Michael Keaton
Borachio ...................... Gerald Horan
Conrade ....................... Richard Clifford
Samuel Goldwyn
presents a film written, produced and directed by Kenneth Branagh. Also produced by David Parfitt
and Stephen Evans. Photographed by Roger Lanser. Edited by Andrew Marcus. Music by Patrick Doyle. Running time: 111
Kenneth Branagh's
film of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" is a wonderful
treat. All production, direction and acting values were great. It really
communicated the play to a modern viewer. I have never been so wonderfully
amused and moved (simultaneously) in a long time. I kept in mind Jim
Jordan's case that Shakespeare was a Christian playwright, and I saw all
kinds of parallels to the gospel. It begins as a wonderful, happy
party (Edenic) (so Edenic
that-- in a modern touch-- no one seems to notice that the revered leader
of the army is black, played by Denzel
Washington; even though his brother is white!), except for wicked Don
John, whose jealousy leads him to slander one of the two heroines. He is
the Satan figure, and as played in the movie, he also reminds me of the
older brother in the prodigal son parable: unable to enjoy the
festivities, because of some imagined injustice. He is the only dour
figure, the devil-as-Pharisee.
The slandered girl undergoes
symbolic death and resurrection. Her fiance, who
believed the false charges, and therefore is himself liable to death (the Branagh character challenges him to a duel), repents,
and forgiveness wonderfully abounds. Sin is not ignored; the fiance must pay a price which appears somewhat ominous
to him; but the price, accepted voluntarily, turns out to be the
consummation of joy. In the "risen" girl's arms he is
symbolically raised with her to newness of life, and the party begins
again. She is the Christ figure.
Meanwhile, there is wonderful comic
dialogue, good natured put-downs between the
other couple, Benedick and Beatrice, played by Branagh and his wife Emma Thompson.
Even in her most wicked comments, her good heart shows through. The
character’s good heart or Thompson’s? Well, it’s hard
for me to imagine Thompson playing a really evil
person. Eventually, Beatrice and Benedick discover
their love for one another under their cynical facades. Essentially, what
happens is that each is deceived by third parties into thinking he/she is loved by the
other. That hypothesis puts a new "perspective" on the data,
whereby each is able to discover his/her love for the other. Each learns to love by being persuaded that he/she
has first been beloved. The parallel with God's grace is remarkable.
The music is rich, wonderful, and
appropriate. Shakespeare's songs have never been arranged so beautifully.
The Satan figure and his cohorts get
their just deserts, but most everyone else rejoices at the end, so that
the wicked simply disappear from the picture. Not a bad representation
of the biblical eschatology: far from being glamorized as in
this world, the wicked are not even missed.
Do Reformed people really understand
"the kingdom of God as a party," to quote Tony Campolo? I think not very often. Shakespeare's
portrayal of the kingdom (I really think that's what it is) is far more
compelling than the usual sour Reformed picture of the Christian life. I
think of Jordan's comment about people who think that God sits up in
heaven waiting to pounce on us for making a liturgical or theological
mistake. That seems to be the theological mentality of many Reformed
people.
I took courses in Shakespeare in college. It was a chore then, understanding the Elizabethan English and sorting out all the professor's ideas about the "deeper meanings." But now, especially after Branagh's "Henry V" and this one, I have come to love Shakespeare and to find in him a kindred spirit.