FILM REVIEW.

As we might know William Shakespeare is an icon of the world literature. He is well-known by his poems, sonnets and certainly by his plays. Most of his work has been translated into several languages and his plays performed all over the world. He goes through basically for four periods during his writing’s career. All of them mainly deal with current issues for society or topics related to feminism, sexuality, friendship, loyalty, money and of course love, among others. “The Merchant of Venice” is movie based of the Shakespeare’s play; the story is developed during the XVI century.

Two of the main characters are Antonio and Shylock. Antonio, represented by Jeremy Irons, is a merchant in Venice he has a wealthy life and Shylock, performanced by Al Pacino, is a Jewish moneylender. These two people have some differences. The most predominant one is the religious beliefs, the Italian merchant is catholic and the moneylender is Jewish, this means that they are in a strongly opposition. Antonio insults and looks down Shylock so the relationship among them isn’t good at all. Both of them seek to show which one of them is better than the other. This struggle leads them to be in complicated situations; one of these situations is one time when Antonio spit on Shylock’s face. This is one act that represents an indescribable repulsion towards someone else. Later one Shylock states firmly that he is equal to everyone due to the fact he feels as everybody and a lot of examples that express that Jews and Christians should be seen with same eyes.

One of the main conflicts of the whole movie is a money loan. Antonio has to turn to Shylock in order to get a big amount of money to give it to his friend Bassanio. Shylock accepts under just one incomparable reason. He wants one exact pound of Antonio own flesh. Bassanio tries to convince Antonio to forget about the loan. However he decides to go on and accepts this risky condition. Finished the due time to pay the debt, Shylock is hungry for revenge. He takes Antonio into court, which represents a low state for a business man. Bassanio offers to pay the double amount of money but Shylock keeps on wanting his revenge. What the court asks the most is mercy, however Shylock is too blind to see that the court has more arguments against him. After all he loses everything and he is forced to convert to Christianity.

There is the discussion whether this master piece belongs to the tragedy or to the comedy category. It’s important to have an idea of what comedy and tragedy are. Comedy might be defined as light and humorous drama with a happy ending. While tragedy might be defined as where the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances. So, this work has elements of both definitions. There are parts that are really tragic and full of sorrow and reflection. On the other hand there are some funny and relaxed scenes.

Seeing this movie has been a reminder to me. A reminder that helps me to understand how powerful and destructive prejudices can be. We all know how relevant religion is for a whole society, because human beings tend to have the need to believe in something. Even though when that belief, no matter which it is, turns into an excuse to segregate and hurt others then it loses all its valid purpose.

I think the work of Shakespeare has the intention to transmit the way things were and in some sense how things still are. The analysis of some values and the concrete acts is fundamental to understand the movie and the reasons why characters did what they did. Also the approach of some interesting issues as sexuality show that this play and movie’s purpose is to raise awareness among its readers or watchers. The ways Shakespeare and the director manage to expose their point of view are completely legitimate. However, it’s true that sometimes it’s no the same reading a play than watching a movie.

I really liked the movie and the discussion my classmates and I had