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THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (2004) (***1/2)

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It’s amazing how flexible William Shakespeare’s work can be. It can be made faithful to the text, but with an inventive mind can take on such varying moods and dimensions.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE is the most performed of Shakespeare’s plays, but has been adapted to the screen very few times. The main reason has to be that the character and treatment of Shylock is anti-Semitic. However, director Michael Radford (IL POSTINO) here takes one of Shakespeare’s comedies and turns it into a tragedy by shifting the central character from Bassanio (Joseph Fiennes, ENEMY AT THE GATE) to Shylock (Al Pacino, THE GODFATHER), using Shylock’s desire for unbending revenge as his downfall.

The story takes on shades of Shakespeare’s OTHELLO. Despite treating Shylock with contempt, Shakespeare did give him motivations and depth and Pacino is simply amazing in the role. By shifting the focus of the story to him and his outrage for the way his people are treated, the attitudes of other characters become more racist sounding. Instead of trying to soften the racism, Radford embarrasses it.

For those who do not know the story, Bassanio has fallen in love with Portia (Lynn Collins, 13 GOING ON 30), but needs money to woe her. So he asks his dearest friend Antonio (Jeremy Irons, LOLITA) to barrow money. Antonio is broke, but awaits some future deals to pay off soon, so he asks Shylock for a loan. (Jews at the time were the only ones allowed to lend money for interest.) Shylock’s terms of the deal is that if Antonio does not pay back the money by a certain date, Shylock will be able to extract a pound of Antonio’s flesh instead. This cruel deal was spurred by a slight Antonio pays toward Shylock at the beginning of the film. Yet, Antonio accepts what looks like a silly deal.

Besides switching the main character to Shylock, the film also alludes to Antonio and Bassanio having been lovers. Think about how tragic it is seeing Antonio alone at the end of the film. He was willing to die for Bassanio while Portia plays tricks on her husband. The film’s final shot of Shylock’s daughter Nerissa (Heather Goldenhersh, KINSEY) only adds an even bitterer note to Shylock’s fate after what he heard his daughter did after she stole his money and ran off with Bassanio’s friend. It’s challenging, ugly and inspired. Some scenes don’t play as well because of the tone shift, but as a whole the film is a fascinating take on a controversial classic play.

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Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks