William Shakespeare knew how to cook up a plot make it thick and juicy. No matter how many centuries it weathers, a Shakespearian play can still shock and entertain audiences. O is a modern version of Othello-the latest cinematic attempt to bring Shakespeare to mainstream audiences.
This version of the tragic play is set in a co-ed boarding school in North Carolina. Julia Stiles plays Desi, a caucasian girl in love with the school’s star basketball player, Odin (Mekhi Phifer). The interracial romance is played up on-screen with drawn-out shots of the two lovers lying naked in bed, skin to skin.
Race is not, however, the catalyst for tragedy in the film. Josh Hartnett plays Hugo, the conniving classmate who stirs the pot by deceiving everyone around him. Tragedy, it turns out, has much to do with mass paranoia cultivated by an evil mastermind.
Stiles, Phifer and Hartnett are talented and attractive; their performances bring out the tone unique to Shakespearean works. Hartnett is especially effective in conveying the two-sided character of Hugo: evil, yet disturbingly familiar and endearing. Rain Phoenix (sister of River and Joaquin) excels in her role as the brooding Emily, Hugo’s girlfriend. Phifer does his best to portray the build up of jealousy and paranoia that lead him to the breaking point in the film.
One of O’s major flaws, however, is the lack of development of the relationship between Odin and Hugo. When Hugo lies to Odin, it is hard for the audience to comprehend why Odin takes Hugo’s word for gospel truth without doing much soul-searching or outside investigation. It is true that Hugo’s web of lies is thick, but Odin treads the path toward insanity a bit too blindly.
This film is not weak because of lack of plot, but instead because of the modern situation it is forced into. High school is different than any other social circumstance-and the conflict simply does not translate seamlessly into that setting.
O submerges the audience in to an adolescent world where young men earn esteem through basketball. Also, having a cheating girlfriend can lead to insanity. Therefore love and war become as accessible as high school crushes and sport rivalry.
By familiarizing audiences with Shakespeare through the use of modern language (no old English) and familiar settings, O does not deliver the goods completely intact. The magic and grandeur that make Shakespeare larger than life-yet emotionally tangible-is restricted in this film. The ethereal quality of the South and the isolation of a boarding school don’t quite compare to the island where the original Othello takes place.
The most chilling and memorable message of the film takes place at the end, during Hugo’s final soliloquy. The murders that ensue when Hugo’s scheme is complete are enacted in a way far too familiar to most Americans-in a school shooting. During Hugo’s farewell, the audience almost comprehends why he did it, which is a frightening thought.
Though not the best rendition of Shakespearean drama, O serves its purposes: to entertain and disturb. B
