“Was Shakespeare a fraud?” is the tagline for Roland Emmerich’s new film, Anonymous. The film follows a theory that the Earl of Oxford was the true writer of Shakespeare’s masterpieces. While I find the theory unbelievable, I can’t deny how entertaining I found Anonymous to be.
I have never delved much into the theories saying that Shakespeare was a fraud. Yet, I was curious to see what theory Anonymous would take. As I said earlier, the story believes that Edward De Vere, the Earl of Oxford (Rhys Ifans), is the real writer of the classic plays and poems. Edward approaches Ben Johnson, another playwright and asks him to take his plays have them performed under Johnson’s name. Johnson isn’t keen on the offer, but he feels like he has no choice. He tells his friend, Will Shakespeare (Rafe Spall), an actor and goof, about the offer. With Johnson still hesitating on owning up to the plays like Edward asked him to do, Shakespeare decides to take credit. Throughout the film, it is slowly revealed what Edward’s true intentions for the play are.
This movie is very dramatic. I mean, it deals with Shakespeare; so how could it not be? At some moments, it was a bit too dramatic and it got a little corny. But overall, the dramatic turns were entertaining. There are flashbacks throughout the film that explains Edward’s past. His relationships with Queen Elizabeth I (Vanessa Redgrave) and William Cecil (David Thewlis) reveal a great deal about Edward and what his intentions may be. The decision of who will succeed Queen Elizabeth I and the Essex rebellion serve as a backdrop for the story. It really livened things up and added urgency to the film. Will Edward be able to persuade the Queen to choose the right successor with his words? It was very interesting to watch.
The performances aren’t too note-worthy. Rhys Ifans did a fine job, as did Redgrave, Thewlis and Spall. Jamie Campbell Bower played the younger version of Edward. He acted a little too dramatically for my tastes. I couldn’t help but laugh at some of his more intense moments.
We’re all familiar with Roland Emmerich’s movies, like 2012, Independence Day, etc. This is a bit different than what he usually does. And in my opinion, I think this is his best film. It was just a truly entertaining and fun movie to watch. I didn’t go in looking for something revelatory about Shakespeare, and you shouldn’t either. It offers an unbelievable theory about who really wrote Shakespeare. It may have some veins of the truth, but those must be very, very small veins. Anonymous is a good piece of historical fiction that I think audiences will enjoy and find interesting.
Anonymous starts playing in theaters tomorrow, October 28th.
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