Macbeth

I managed to get to the cinema this week with two of my sons to see the new version of Macbeth. It was quite a good production with plenty of gore. The decision to roll the scene back to around a thousand years AD in a wild Scotland is understandable and made for some rugged scenery. This meant though that the Shakespearean element was overlooked. For some reason children featured prominently as did fire. The witches were also given more of a role visually. Some few scenes were cut. Surprisingly, Lady Macbeth's part was not emphasised as it often is. The focus on Fleance at the end was interesting as it made a little suggestion as to how the future might unfold following Macbeth's death. Perhaps it is why the film begins with a funeral. The Burnham wood to Dunsinane was done rather poorly, I thought. People say that Fassbender and Cotillard (the lead actors) were compelling and magnetic but that sounds to me like overstatement.