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Spain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Spanish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Spanish ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), Spanish ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Biographies, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: This modern crime drama uses the names of the homonymous Shakespeare play's main characters which inspired its plot. White London Metropolitan Police commissioner Sinclair Carver promises to maintain law and order and further racial integration by recruiting and promoting black and Asian officers, but is taped in the lavatory by a tabloid reporter telling his assistant commissioner Ben Jago there is no black with a brain as big as his dick, and is thus forced to resign. When the death of the black Billy Coates in custody causes racial unrest, John Othello, the only authoritative black police officer, manages to prevent riots by pointing to the press and promising to solve the case; the government names him successor to Carver over his friend Jago's head. The ambitious Ben doesn't show his furious disappointment, but must have his revenge. His plots starts by making sure racists harass Othello's white wife Desdemona, so he can have her 'well guarded' by smooth white superintendent Michael Cass, and then makes John believe he's a bit too friendly with her. Meanwhile he makes sure the Coates investigation ends in an innocent young cop's suicide and a mistrial. Now he plants false DNA proof of Dessie's infidelity - will Othello, who believes his world is crashing down, actually bring it on himself in despair? SCREENED/AWARDED AT: BAFTA Awards, ...Othello (2001)
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Don't be put off by the fact that Geoffrey Sax's Othello is a modern "updating" of Shakespeare's play - none of the impact of the Bard's tragedy is lost in what is an utterly fabulous adaptation. While the language certainly loses Shakespeare's poetry, in some respects the context in which this version is presented is more potent, immediate and compelling.
Made for British television, Eammon Walker played the first black head of the Metropolitan Police Force at a time when the "institutional racism" of London's police was offset by positive discrimination in the recruitment of officers from racial minorities. John Othello takes command to deal with rising racial tension on London's streets, while Jago, his secretly embittered second-in-command, believes his promotion is based on political correctness rather than merit and plans his downfall.
Walker's powerful performance is perfectly complemented by a intensely mesmerising turn from Christopher Eccleston as Jago, whose motivations are much more convincing here than they were in the context of Shakespeare's Venetian/Ottoman conflict. The relationship John has with his wife, Dessie (Keeley Hawes) is also set in the sensitively plausible context of race and class here as Jago exploits John's inexperience with "wealthy British girls", injecting doubts and fears into his mind and then confirming them with planted DNA (as opposed to the handkerchief in the play). It is a rewarding, imaginatively crafted, brilliantly well-acted piece of British television drama.
Made for British television, Eammon Walker played the first black head of the Metropolitan Police Force at a time when the "institutional racism" of London's police was offset by positive discrimination in the recruitment of officers from racial minorities. John Othello takes command to deal with rising racial tension on London's streets, while Jago, his secretly embittered second-in-command, believes his promotion is based on political correctness rather than merit and plans his downfall.
Walker's powerful performance is perfectly complemented by a intensely mesmerising turn from Christopher Eccleston as Jago, whose motivations are much more convincing here than they were in the context of Shakespeare's Venetian/Ottoman conflict. The relationship John has with his wife, Dessie (Keeley Hawes) is also set in the sensitively plausible context of race and class here as Jago exploits John's inexperience with "wealthy British girls", injecting doubts and fears into his mind and then confirming them with planted DNA (as opposed to the handkerchief in the play). It is a rewarding, imaginatively crafted, brilliantly well-acted piece of British television drama.
Format:DVD
Davies' adaptation brilliantly highlights Iago's modus operandi, making it accessible for modern generations. It is a fantastic teaching aid for GCSE, A Level and even degree students, because the director makes the relationship between Othello and Iago more overtly parasitic. It may lose the subtleties of the original text, but the staging is often wonderfully symbolic - such as when Ben Jago's (Iago) shadow falls across Othello. This 'Iago' has less warmth and affability than Brannagh's, but his passions seem to run deeper and they are darkly sinister: political and racial tensions and motivations make Shakespeare's play an apt comment on such tensions today. A great pity that the only copy available on Amazon is beyond this teacher's budget at a ridiculously inflated price.
By C. J. Lunney
Format:DVD
A VERY ENTERTAINING FILM. THE FUNNIEST LINE FROM A MONSTER ASIAN PIRATE WHEN ACCOSTED BY A BELLIGERENT OLD LADY . QUOTE [ OLD ENGLISH WOMAN NOBODY WANT.] IF SHE MOVES SHOOT HER.THE FILM IS ABOUT AN ALCOHOLIC HOMELESS MAN [ CURT JURGENS ] WHO BECOMES STATELESS AND CANNOT LEAVE THE HONG KONG FERRY. HE MEETS A KIND YOUNG WOMAN AND THE REST IS OBVIOUS.RECOMMENDED
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