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diversions:
movie
review
'O' no, another
Shakespeare remake
By Jeanne Hoffa
On-line Forty-Niner
You may have heard
about "O," billed as a "daring retelling of
Shakespeare's Othello".
It was made a few
years ago, but supposedly got shelved because the teen-angst
film gone berserk film was too reminiscent of Columbine.
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| Odin
James (Mekhi Pfifer) and Desi (Julia Stiles).
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The story in a
technical sense is almost a point by point retelling of Othello
with an updated setting and younger cast of characters.
A southern prep
school's dean (John Heard) and basketball coach (Martin Sheen)
recruit super-player Odin (Mekhi Phifer) who alone in a sea
of white boys leads the school to victory, and wins the heart
(and body) of the dean's daughter Desi (Julia Stiles).
Odin's perfectly
clever and handsome teammate Hugo, (Josh Hartnett) also the
coach's son, feels some fundamental injustice has occurred,
and decides to gas light his friend.
Hugo sets out to
trick Odin into believing his devoted Desi is deceptive and
unfaithful, in fact banging every guy she can get her paws
on - even Odin's supposed best friend.
Odin is so ripped
apart by doubt that he teeters on the brink of despair and
madness, which propels the promising young man to turn to
drugs, rape and murder.
The movie did not
get shelved because of Columbine. It got shelved because it
does not work.
While the ending
is shocking, there is no sense of loss, because you don't
sympathize with anybody. You can not even figure out
why Hugo was so jealous of Odin in the first place.
And then there's
poor Odin; he does not respond to his spoiled prep-school
buddy's hi-jinx with any sort of dignity.
While on top of
his beloved, he looks in the mirror perched at the foot of
his bed and imagines his white friend in the same position.
Rage creeps up
on him and he starts going at her in a - well, ungentlemanly
manner, impervious to her screams.
Are we supposed
to have sympathy for this guy?
Next he's snorting
drugs behind the gym right before a big game, where the coach
has recruited a bunch of scouts.
The only other
black person in the whole town is a drug dealer ? who hands
him a small envelope and says, "No change. You're not
a customer." Urban Myth #203, shady guys in baseball
hats and gold chains are scouting around handing out free
drugs to "clean" people.
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| Odin
James (Mekhi Pfifer) goes berserk on the basketball
court, and rips the hoop from the backboard.
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But that's not
the only racist overtone this movie takes.
Odin self-destructs
on the basketball court, alienating young fans and smashing
the backboard with a ferocious shot.
The disappointed
coach suspends him, and his self-destructive spiral escalates.
The next thing
we know he's planning a murder based on hearsay.
Teens consumed
with so much desperation that they bring guns to school, that's
a fascinating story.
There's a reason
why it happens, and it's not too many video games, and it's
not because of adolescent teasing.
This movie pretends
to offer an explanation, but doesn't. So you don't feel like
you understand anything.
This movie concludes
with the protagonist lamenting, "My mama was no crackhead.
I was no gangbanger. I just got played."
A better movie
that deals with jealousy is "Star 80" For an obsessive
romance, try "Fatal Attraction."
Even "Cruel
Intentions" did a better job at making the audience believe
in teens obsessed with hurting each other.
Don't bother with
this one.
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