Othello
2001: Geoffrey Sax

This is an adaptation of Othello, not a version of it at all. It is a modern drama set in and around Scotland Yard, where John Othello (Eamonn Walker, who later played Othello with the Globe) is able to help quell high racial tensions, and is promoted to police commissioner in consequence. His star seems to be rising, but he is beset by Neo-Nazis who threaten him and his wife; accordingly an officer named Michael Cass is detailed to keep an eye on her, whence the obvious complications. Othello’s apparently faithful friend and advisor Ben Jago (Christopher Eccleston — a quondam Doctor Who) feeds him provocative advice, and the whole unfolds more or less as one would expect it to do, in the context of the referential plot. It does not end well for Othello or his faithful wife; one interesting twist is that Ben Jago at the end of the movie succeeds him as commissioner of police, and suffers no apparent negative consequence. Through the course of the play, he’s shown more or less as a sociopath, apparently himself in love with Othello but untrammeled by conscience. A feature of Shakespeare’s play that is preserved and brought to the fore is the tendency of Iago to keep up a running commentary with the audience in his asides. It’s well played, with some A-list actors, and nicely produced. I’m not sure it particularly adds anything to the understanding of Shakespeare’s play beyond a few marginal points, and I would caution parents and teachers about it with respect to adult content.

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