Making Shakespeare into a movie is a tricky business. Oliver Parker has succeeded in keeping the main outlines of the characters and the central emotions of the play. The visual images are strong and the musical score effective. However, two-thirds of the lines are gone and with them has gone some of Othello's breadth of soul and largeness of purpose, some of the depth of Iago's malice, and some of the pity and pain in Desdemona's death.
Laurence Fishburne brings an intense realism to Othello, but he is sometimes less than adept at handling the longer speeches.
Irene Jacob is a picture of desirable innocence, but her accent slows and encumbers her lines.
Kenneth Branagh is the most effective actor in the film, combining charm, malice, and subtlety to create an entirely believable (and still horrifying) Iago.
Laurence Fishburne brings an intense realism to Othello, but he is sometimes less than adept at handling the longer speeches.
Irene Jacob is a picture of desirable innocence, but her accent slows and encumbers her lines.
Kenneth Branagh is the most effective actor in the film, combining charm, malice, and subtlety to create an entirely believable (and still horrifying) Iago.