Mike Almereyda's Hamlet

Out of all three renditions of Hamlet I have come to the conclusion that Mike Almereyda’s version is of most interest to me. This rendition is the most recent and takes place in a modern day setting. I feel that this is a great form of expressing the story of Hamlet. Firstly, I believe that this version is unique and interesting in the fact that it represents Denmark and Elsinore castle in the form of a company, where Hamlet is the son of the deceased CEO. I also believe that Mike Almereyda expresses Hamlets first soliloquy in a unique and inventive way. In fact, I believe his method provides more of a mode and insight into Hamlet’s true feelings through his reflection of videos with him and his father. One similarity between the original Hamlet and the film is the language used.

I feel that in this movie, Hamlet was portrayed most effectively. I feel so because he is properly shown as a young man in mourn of his father’s death. He seems to perfectly fill the role of the character originally described by Shakespeare. If I were to ask the director to make one change to the film, I would recommend he do similar to Franco Zeffirelli’s version of Hamlet. In that version, Franco preludes to the play with providing a scene of Hamlet’s father’s death. I believe that Mike’s film would greatly benefit a similar scene. A detailed scene of the death of the CEO of Denmark Corp. in the beginning of the film would greatly improve the production.