Gerard Butler, Ralph Fiennes in Coriolanus
Berlin, Germany, February 17, 2011 - (Reviewed at the Berlin International Film Festival - in competition.)
Ralph Fiennes is no stranger to the title role of “Coriolanus,” having played it in 2000 on the London stage at the Almeida Theatre, Gainsborough Studios. Fiennes says he’s been determined to reprise the demanding role on the big screen ever since.
This is, however, his first foray into directing and one wonders why he chose such a risky subject.
Will mainstream audiences respond to classic Shakespearean dialogue? Perhaps. Will they understand Fiennes’ vision? Perhaps. Especially when played so adroitly by Fiennes in the role of Roman General, Caius Martius Coriolanus and Gerard Butler his fiercest enemy, in a lion-like portrayal of Tullus Aufidius; both with an intense male sexual energy that is rare on screen.
Vanessa Redgrave is mesmerizing as Volumnia, his passionate and ambitious mother, whose every breath is dedicated to her son’s success as leader of the military and eventually as the leader of her beloved country.
The movie opens as the teeming masses, hungry for food and without the means necessary for comfortable lives, storm on the central grand depot of their city of Rome demanding bread. A violent reception awaits them and Coriolanus emerges from the fires of war into the mob followed by his soldiers. They are subdued and he is in ensuing days put forth as leader of this troubled land.
Coriolanus, although a great and fearless warrior is flawed and his weakness, seen in his personal and political struggles eventually causes his downfall and banishment from Rome. Far from over, however, his fall from grace compels us into the film’s more personal and compelling story as the two men, Coriolanus and Aufidius face the ultimate confrontation.
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