Macbeth (1971)

I suppose any great Shakespearean adaptation there should be distinct vision by the director. This quite true to Roman Polanki's adaptation of the Scottish play. The film marked the first film by the director since the brutal murder of his wife Sharon Tate by the Mason family. The influence of that event on the director's mind is palatable in the hopeless and particularly violent telling. Macbeth is already a dark tragedy however Polanski takes every step to amplify this particularly in the graphic nature of the blood letting, the MacDuff family massacre in particular takes its time to depicts the horrors of the scene. It goes beyond that even with an undercurrent of a circular process of decay. Macbeth is not the only traitor in this version changing the character Ross to a co-conspirator, turning the younger brother of the murdered king a future Macbeth. The side effects of the plot seem to age Macbeth and his wife into older people beyond their years as they slowly meet their demise. This film is clearly of a singular vision by Polanski though I wouldn't quite call it a great adaptation. The central nihilistic theme is fitting to this tragedy to be sure, however there are unneeded excesses in this vision. The vision in itself though still is compelling realization of an already compelling story.
4/5