Anonymous

Starring: Rhys Ilfans, Vanessa Redgrave, Rafe Spall, Sebastian Armesto, David Thewlis, Xavier Samuel
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Thriller
2011

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Was Shakespeare a fraud? This film explores who really wrote the famous plays.

Review:

Tim: Despite the occasional bad film, I'm still a huge fan of Roland Emmerich. I love Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, and so I'll always had a soft spot for Emmerich and his films. I'm also a huge Shakespeare fan, so I was interested if not wholly convinced about this film. I wanted to see how it would unfold. I believe this is a good movie- it's certainly an interesting theory, and Emmerich does good work in this period film, especially in creating the dramatic.

Probably my favorite aspect of the film is the way we see the genius plays and brilliant words written by someone (perhaps William Shakespeare, perhaps Edward De Vere). I got a chill just seeing the names of the plays- "Macbeth", "Romeo & Juliet", "Henry V". It was great seeing little snippets of the plays performed on stage as well. It was really cool to see the author of those plays watching them play out. I loved that aspect of the film.

I really like the idea that the plays were written by Edward De Vere. This is probably partially because of how he was portrayed in this film. Rhys Ilfans does a fantastic job creating this character and making him someone you could care about. I love the scene where he talks about the voices in his head propelling him to write. It was a genius speaking of the rare, unseen qualities that make him such a genius. This film reminded me of the true, everlasting genius of whomever wrote the plays. This was clearly my favorite aspect of the film.

There's also a lot of focus on the political intrigue happening with the Queen, her advisors, and her rivals. This aspect of the story was interesting, but a bit convoluted and less exciting than the aspects of the story that focused on the plays. Still, I liked how the script tied the writings of "Shakespeare" to the main historical events of that time. The plays were so powerful because they were connected to what was happening in the world at that time. I love the connections between the real events and the writing.

It was very interesting how Shakespeare was portrayed in this film. I thought Rafe Spall did a fairly good job. In this version, Shakespeare isn't the most likable character. Spall went into the role full steam, showing no trepidation in playing perhaps the most famous writer of all time as an illiterate, womanizing buffoon. It was interesting to see Shakespeare depicted in this light.

Anonymous does have some flaws. There are some pretty big historical inaccuracies throughout the film. Supposedly it was done on purpose, but inaccuracies always hurt a film in my opinion (see Inglourious Basterds). The movie is also way too long 130 minutes. There's simply no reason for the film to go on that long. It's a chore to make it through the film, which is never good. The political scenes aren't as engrossing, and get a bit convoluted and complex, likely more so for people without much historical background on those times.

While Anonymous is flawed, I still enjoyed the movie. There were some brilliant moments in the film, which made up for the slower parts. As a whole, the film is good, but it's not among Emmerich's best. Even though the movie did not convince me this theory is accurate, I still enjoyed the movie as a piece of entertaining fiction. This is not a documentary. If you go into it expecting that, prepare to be disappointed.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Patriot, Shakespeare in Love