Aneil Karia’s new film Hamlet understands the key to its source material’s timelessness. Shakespeare’s plays are a never-ending well of inspiration, and filmmakers are constantly looking for ways to reimagine them for the big screen. Hamlet has been adapted countless times throughout film history, ranging from Kenneth Branagh’s one-to-one adaptation in 1996, to The Lion King (1994), to character interpretations such as Ophelia (2018). Much of the play’s lasting cultural impact comes from its ability to speak to both a universal experience and an incredibly specific one, and Karia’s adaptation is no different.
Working together, Karia and star Riz Ahmed (who also served as a producer on the project) make this enduring tale of grief and power deeply personal. The film specifically examines the lives of a wealthy South Asian family in modern-day London, and explores Hamlet’s culture and heritage, the wealth disparity perpetuated by his family’s business, and his spiraling grief following his father’s death. The class politics, family dynamics, and the impact of grief are ideas with universal relatability, and ones that are familiar in many modern films and other stories.
The setting is paramount to Karia’s interpretation of Hamlet’s story, and Chris Oddy’s production design and Stuart Bentley’s cinematography bring that setting to life. There is a clear contrast drawn between natural landscapes, the classy architecture of the buildings that Hamlet’s family populates, and the tactile cityscapes that fall somewhere in between. The lighting is incredibly striking, and Bentley largely employs practical lighting, opting for elaborate light fixtures, fluorescent signs, strobes, and other light sources within the film’s environment. This adds dimension to every scene while also bringing in vibrant colors and captivating lighting shifts within specific scenes.
As for the camerawork, Bentley uses the effect of a handheld camera to its maximum potential, keeping the viewer up close with Ahmed and constantly in motion. The audience is in it with Hamlet, even when they’d rather not be, as his behavior grows increasingly erratic. Combined with Ahmed’s masterful performance, we feel the unraveling of a character overtaken by his grief.
On the whole, the film’s direction is gorgeous. A standout sequence is a beautifully staged dance performance at Claudius and Gertrude’s wedding. It’s a true testament to the collaboration between the choreographers, dancers, director, and cinematographer. Also worth shouting out are Nirage Mirage’s gorgeous costumes, as clothing is an important element in how this film portrays both culture and status.
Karia and screenwriter Michael Lesslie aren’t afraid to divert from the original text when necessary, but it’s clear that the adjustments they make to the story and language come from a place of respect for both Shakespeare’s work as well as the story they themselves want to tell with this film. This adaptation really narrows in on Hamlet himself, and some of the supporting characters’ roles are adjusted, whittled down, or cut entirely.
Standouts among the supporting cast include Art Malik as Claudius, Joe Alwyn as Laertes, and Morfydd Clark as Ophelia. Malik plays the mystery and deceit of Claudius with regulated intensity, while Alwyn nails the complexity of Laertes’ final confrontation with Hamlet. Clark rises to the occasion in one of the play’s trickiest roles, having to convey Ophelia’s love, heartbreak, and desperation all at once.
While Hamlet himself posits that there’s rot within his family in the form of his treacherous uncle, we also see that the family is responsible for the growing suffering in their city. In his attempt to avenge his father’s death, Hamlet finds himself encountering the world outside his family’s walls in a new way. He learns that the real estate developments of his family’s company are causing people of lesser means to become homeless, a fact that is smartly alluded to through news articles, signage, and graffiti before Hamlet comes face to face with the reality of it.
The luxurious living of Hamlet’s family only exists as a result of their oppression of the less wealthy, and Hamlet must grapple with his own complicity in this as well as what he might do to change it. Again, Karia and Lesslie are smart about working Shakespeare’s text to align with a specific modern conflict rooted in historical struggles long predating even Shakespeare’s time.
Despite being nearly two hours long, the film struggles with its limited runtime, as the original play is over four hours long. The trouble comes not from the actual material being cut, but from Karia’s film feeling as though it’s pushing through its material rather than allowing each moment to breathe. Some of the disorientation of the film’s rhythm is intentional, as it helps convey Hamlet’s deteriorating mindset, but some is the result of weaknesses in the script. The film introduces a lot of fascinating ideas that it wants to comment on, but some of them are breezed past too quickly to sink in. Even an extra five to ten minutes of space would’ve allowed the audience to sit with the individual scenes a bit more and would allow the film to be more emotionally resonant.
What stands out the most is Karia and Ahmed’s passion for this story. The film will appeal to those intimately familiar with the original play as well as those going in with zero prior context. Ahmed in particular delivers his dialogue gracefully and with emotion that will translate even to viewers who may not be able to decipher all the intricacies of Shakespeare’s language. It instantly earns a place in the conversation of notable Hamlet adaptations and reminds audiences why there’s always potential for a fresh take on Shakespeare’s works in the hands of a team as talented as this one.
Review Courtesy of Claire May Lewis
Feature Image Credit to Universal Pictures