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Drama Pick: Coriolanus

I’ve had both Ralph Fiennes and Gerard Butler on the brain recently, the former due to his stellar performance in The Grand Budapest Hotel and the latter due to his sorely felt absence in 300: Rise of an Empire. So it makes sense that my mind would eventually drift to Coriolanus, a Shakespeare adaptation which finds the two actors (each at the top of their game) playing mortal enemies. Before you groan and sigh, “Shakespeare, really?,” be advised – this isn’t your parents’ Bard. Particularly because Fiennes (also excellent behind the camera) employed The Hurt Locker lenser Barry Ackroyd for the film, Coriolanus plays more like a searing, visceral war epic populated by Shakespearean characters.

Coriolanus adapts one of Shakespeare’s lesser known works, so I’ll provide some context. Set in a war-torn, modern-day Rome, Coriolanus centers on esteemed Roman general Caius Martius (Fiennes), nicknamed Coriolanus after a mightily successful raid on the city of Corioles, in neighboring Volsci, with which Rome is at war. Though he’s praised by the government, the people blame the gung-ho Coriolanus for many problems with their society, especially because he holds commoners in contempt. When Coriolanus gains political office but speaks his mind, condeming the general populace in a show of arrogance, he’s banished, eventually joining with his sworn enemy Tullus Aufidius (Butler) to fight against Rome.

In Fiennes’ capable hands, Coriolanus makes Shakespeare’s dialogue come alive and sound more urgent and conversational, more gritty and relevant, than it has in many a year. Its gritty action sequences and grim tone complement the original tragedy well, and Fiennes and Butler both give incredible performances as two men shaped by the horrors of modern combat. That Vanessa Redgrave gets to sink her teeth into the role of Coriolanus’ blood-thirsty mother just takes the movie to another level.