Titus (1999)

an unusual cinematic take on Shakespeare's first play!

Director: Julie Taymor

 

Starring Anthony Hopkins (Titus), Jessica Lange (Tamora), Alan Cumming (Saturnius)

 

For those who have never experienced William Shakespeare before, or for those who know him well, this is a wonderful cinematic display of the Bard’s first (and perhaps most notorious play) Titus Andronicus.  Certainly it contains brutal violence!

 

The director created an acclaimed stage production of Lion King, and this was her directorial debut.  There is so much to say about this film, I will try to be brief.  It begins as a fantasy. We see the eyes of someone staring out of the torn eye-holes of a paper bag being worn over the head. The camera pulls back and it appears to be a child playing “war” with a variety of toy soldiers, from GI Joes to spacemen to figures in ancient Roman garb.  He is doing this at a 1950’s looking kitchen table. His play gradually becomes more violent until the kitchen literally explodes. Suddenly we are transported back in time to ancient Roman times, but everything appears anachronistic. 

 

Structures resembling the Colosseum in Rome to the modern architecture of Mussolini’s designs for the city appear.   Much of the film was shot on the backlot of Cinecittà in Rome (where many of Fellini’s movies were made).   The costumes are of all periods. We see one chariot drawn by four horses, but we see motorcycles, sports cars, small tanks, and even the character Saturnius, who becomes the Roman emperor rides in a variant of the “pope-mobile” (!)  The sets allude to ancient Roman design but overall there is a modern look. There are even electric lights.

 

The music by Eliot Goldenthal is all over the place. Some of it sounds like post-modern Anthony Braxton-styled jazz.  Overall, there is humor in it.

 

Now, what about the story?  I read Titus Andronicus when I was 16, and I was shocked by what I read. Immediately I understood why it was unpopular in most circles.  The story tells of Titus, a celebrated Roman general who is offered the chance to be Emperor. He refuses, and after that a variety of unimaginable cruelties are exacted on his family"to his two sons, and worst of all, to his beautiful daughter Lavinia.

 

The movie is fascinating and thought-provoking. Everyone is excellent performing their Shakespearean roles.  A film you will not soon forget. and yes, you will even see a few cross-references to Hopkins’s most famous work, Silence of the Lambs!!!!