They Make Good Films These Days (Just Not in Hollywood) - #21

I have been waiting a long time for this Danish masterpiece. The Hunt has finally been released on DVD.


 The wait is over. Rent or buy this film ASAP.

Mads, who has made more than one appearance in my They Make Good Films These Days list, won best actor at Cannes for this performance.

Please read this commentary: The insidiousness of false allegations.

Song of the Day - March 23, 2012 - Many Rivers to Cross

On Madness

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Act 5, Scene 1

HAMLET
How absolute the knave is! we must speak by the
card, or equivocation will undo us. By the Lord,
Horatio, these three years I have taken a note of
it; the age is grown so picked that the toe of the
peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he
gaffs his kibe. How long hast thou been a
grave-maker?

First Clown
Of all the days i' the year, I came to't that day
that our last king Hamlet overcame Fortinbras.

HAMLET
How long is that since?

First Clown
Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that: it
was the very day that young Hamlet was born; he that
is mad, and sent into England.

HAMLET
Ay, marry, why was he sent into England?
First Clown
Why, because he was mad: he shall recover his wits
there; or, if he do not, it's no great matter there.

HAMLET
Why?

First Clown
'Twill, a not be seen in him there; there the men
are as mad as he.

HAMLET
How came he mad?

First Clown
Very strangely, they say.

HAMLET
How strangely?

First Clown
Faith, e'en with losing his wits.

HAMLET
Upon what ground?

First Clown
Why, here in Denmark: I have been sexton here, man
and boy, thirty years.

HAMLET
How long will a man lie i' the earth ere he rot?

First Clown
I' faith, if he be not rotten before he die--as we
have many pocky corses now-a-days, that will scarce
hold the laying in--he will last you some eight year
or nine year: a tanner will last you nine year.

HAMLET
Why he more than another?

First Clown
Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that
he will keep out water a great while; and your water
is a sore decayer of your whoreson dead body.
Here's a skull now; this skull has lain in the earth
three and twenty years.

HAMLET
Whose was it?

Hamlet and Horatio are wandering in a churchyard where they meet some clowns digging graves. The clown Hamlet speaks to in this section does not know he is speaking to the Prince of Denmark. The bold six word sentence below explains so much about why Hamlet is considered mad.

Hamlet is considered mad because he has faith, even though he is losing his wits. Faith is the most threatening thing to those with illegitimate power. Faith gives Hamlet the ability to speak truth to power, no matter how offensive it is. 


Check out HAMLET_HULK talk to TEAPARTYHULK and SARAHPALINHULK on Twitter today. What shall become of it all?


Warm Regards,


Erik B. Anderson
The King of Funny Faces
Independence Township, New Jersey 
Established 1782

No Sign of Yesterday - A Tribute to My Dad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R31_svOsglQ

B. Bruce Anderson (1946-2003) R.I.P.

Erik Read's ShakespeareNJ's Gareth Saxe Star-Ledger Interview - Critically

Read this review with the actor playing Hamlet at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.
True to himself: Gareth Saxe tackles Shakespeare's most difficult role
by Peter Filichia/For The Star-Ledger

I posted what I wrote below in the comments section of the Star-Ledger.com and also under the link to the article that The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey posted on their Facebook site.

***

It is offensive that this actor plays Hamlet like he is feigning madness. How is the Tragedy of Hamlet not a tragedy of inaction?

Hamlet was the lawful heir to his throne. That was the action that should have been taken before the play started. It was interfered with by Hamlet's incestuous mother and his incestuous uncle. Then it was interfered with by the wretched rash intruding fool Lord Polonius who told his mother that he is mad because he is mad. They are the ones who decided he is mad. Madness is not a medical disease. It is a social position. It allows the one who is labeled mad to be marginalized and removed from his or her proper role in society. In Hamlet's case, his proper role in society was to be King. The few characters who did not interfere directly were Polonius, Marcellus, Rosencrants and Guildenstern, but they took no action. This play is certainly a tragedy of inaction.

I highly recommend that Gareth Saxe read Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin and The Politics of Experience by R.D. Laing before he goes onstage again and gets more reviews like the one like the one on CentralJersey.com that says he looked like he was poring over his notes and then got interrupted by the "obligatory" to be or not to be speech, in which he is questioning whether to kill himself or to take action to end a sea of troubles.

Get mad, sir! Get mad! Get really mad! Remember the old rule, acting is not pretending. Acting is taking action. I'm not sure, but I think Sandy Meisner said that.

I say again. Get fuming mad! Froth at the mouth if you have to! You're playing Hamlet, for God's sake!

Warm Regards,

Erik B. Anderson
The King of Funny Faces
Independence Township, New Jersey
Established 1782

More about Erik:
http://thetragedyoferik.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIR2nUcsiRw

This is not Erik's best performance, but it will have to do for now.

This blog is cross-posted on MySpace.