The Real World: Venice

The Merchant of Venice is a great under-rated movie from 2004 directed by Michael Radford. He didn’t just direct, but also he wrote the adaptation of this masterpiece by William Shakespeare, that is set in theXVI century.

It is in this time where Basanio asks for 3000 ducats to Shylock, a Jew who is betrayed by her very own daughter, who steal him all his money and jewelry. Shylock offers a three-month loan with no interests, but with a highly price if he doesn’t pay; subsequently Portia, Bassanio's fiancée, saves Antonio from a near death in a very unfair trial.

This is an entertain and very detailed story; so detailed that sometimes the movie -which is very accurate with the book- starts to be very slow. This deliberate and slow rhythm is necessary in order to show all the magnificent work of art that is shown in the movie; not just the choice of wardrobe that evoke the Venice from the XVI, but also the very Venice, that transports us to those times. The cast director made a good choice hiring Al Pacino to play Shylock. The same actor of “Scarface” and “Carlitos’ Way” shows us the complex character of Shylock.

Trying to explain Shylock is as hard as to explain the Merchant of Venice. It is not an easy story to understand. The complexity of the characters is so, that they don’t look as fiction characters. They look human. In fact, they look so human that you feel astonish and ashamed to be reflected on them; all the passion, the pain, the love and the deception; all this human dimensions are part of the characters, specially part of Shylock. This contrast with nowadays movies that have so flat and shaped characters, is trying to help the average viewer to realize who is the “good guy” and the “bad guy”

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Some people call the Merchant of Venice a “Comedy”, some others call it a “Drama”, and the more sentimentals call it a “romantic tragedy”. But the thing is that it is so complex that I can not label it myself. It shows so well the human complexity with all the dimensions that are part of an entity with a soul that the gender of a Greek drama should have. However, the big difference is that in the Greek dramas all the characters had no power of choice in their acts; they are puppets of the Gods. So, for the characters of this Shakespeare play is hard, because the emotions involved make them choose sometimes the wrong choice - as we can see in Romeo and Juliet, when the young lover, Juliet, committed suicide because they thought that his loved one was dead. This was not for the gods’ fault. Instead, this was their fault because they got desperate and despondent-.

Premises like honor, loyalty and commitment were highly

important in those days, and Shakespeare used them to trigger all the tragedy in the story. Not just trying to go deep into de character, but also trying to go into the inner world of the viewer inviting us to feel and suffer along with them. If you don’t believe me, just try to watch the judge scene where Antonio is asked for the piece of meat that he promised in change of the loan that Shylock gave to him. The “sweat” in the face of Jeremy Irons transports us to that place and evoke us the pain of a nearly dead person. An experience that William Shakespeare want us to experience.

A highly recommended movie, sometimes a little bit slow, but if you are patient you will find a treasure in a lead chest. This goes to my personal collection, next to Sidney Poitier’s “To Sir, with Love” and “Back to the Future”.