“O”
2001: Tim Blake Nelson

This is another modernization of the play, using modern dialogue and a somewhat different configuration of events; it’s set chiefly in an elite private prep school. As such, it’s one of the small but notable class of high school adaptations of Shakespeare; most of the rest of them, however, have been based on comedies (Never Been Kissed from As You Like It; 10 Things I Hate About You from The Taming of the Shrew; She’s the Man from Twelfth Night). This is a tragedy, and takes the burden of the narrative on the chin, so to speak. It’s not an upbeat movie at all, and it features Julia Stiles in one of her more convincing performances (interestingly, she was also Kat in 10 Things). The narrative is convincingly reworked, and manages to be its own thing, rather than merely a cleverly translated version of Othello, and accordingly it deserves consideration on its own terms. At the same time, it does convey a number of key points of the original play, down to Hugo’s (Iago’s) final refusal to explain anything. I do advise caution for teachers and parents of younger students; some of it is fairly frank, and the movie receives an R rating in the United States. There is some depiction of sexual activity, and a good deal of crude language.

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