Movie Review: The Tragedy of Macbeth

Does the world need yet another film of Macbeth? And this one doesn't even have a shtick like setting it in a space station. And - to make matters worse - it's filmed in black and white, with a 4:3 aspect ratio. What is this, the Snyder cut?!?!

And yet… it is perfect.

Joel Coen's direction shows exactly what can be accomplished with a set that looks like it is out of a 1960s BBC dramatisation. Sure, there are little touches of CGI here and there, but he demonstrates that he is at the peak of his creativity and can cajole magic out of thin gruel.

While the whole cast are amazing, it is Kathryn Hunter who completely steals the show as The Weird Sisters. She is truly terrifying and dominates the screen. Her performance has to be seen to be believed.

The production is shocking - both in intent and delivery. It uses every trick in the book to show exactly how Shakespeare can be modernised, without sinking into gimmickry.

And now, the slightly thorny question of Race And Shakespeare. To ask whether a Black cast can play the parts is as churlish as asking whether non-Albans can play "authentic" Scots. I thoroughly recommend reading Ayanna Thompson's The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Race to gain a fuller appreciation of the way that race plays a critical part of Shakespeare. I'm currently reading a biography of Ira Aldridge, an African-American actor who played Shakespeare all over the world. There are reports that Aldridge appeared as Macbeth in Hull in 1832. Black people have been playing Shakespeare for a long time.

Reading those books has made me question how audiences react to multi-racial casts. What new ways do audiences experience Shakespeare - and what questions do they begin to ask of the characters?

Is Denzel Washington's Macbeth the stereotypical "Angry Black Man"? Or is he being manipulated by his white wife - dripping poison in his ear?

Macduff abandons his wife and children - is that a commentary on Black fathers? Or is the (white) Malcom forcing him to commit unspeakable acts for the survival of the white royal bloodline?

What's the significance on the King's admonishment of his "whey-faced" servant that "the devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon!"? When Lady Macbeth chides her husband with "My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white" is this an oblique reference to the stresses of interracial marriage? Why has the screenwriter cut the line saying "black Macbeth will seem as pure as snow"?

Would you ask these questions if the cast were of a different race? What new lessons do you learn about the nature of power, and the ways individuals wield it?

It is a terrific film which shows just how incredible Shakespeare is. It is dizzyingly inventive while staying very true to its roots.