Macbeth: The Elements

Macbeth: The Elements

Rupert Goold's Macbeth had all the right elements a movie could have. I think the choices he made as a director as far as lighting, emotion, and just all around creepiness of it all. He created a whole new level for Macbeth. This production of the famous tragedy was very different, if not better, than the countless others by various directors.

The lighting for the movie was a whole beautiful aspect in itself; the dim lighting for most of the play, especially the dark scenes. The lack of light is supposed to mean there is no light in humanity anymore - the world is corrupt: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plan to kill their king, Duncan...Macbeth battles with his conscience, but ends up going through with it. Lady Macbeth had clearly already thought of it, and was pushing Macbeth to do it. The creepy lighting with the witches. Next on the list was music: Goold put the suspenseful and horrifying music in all the right places. These melodies added a lot more to the Shakespearian play - it was almost like it was more of a suspenseful action movie than it was a tragic play. This aspect is greatly shown by most important scenes that the music really added emphasis to, one being the scene where Macduff tells Macbeth he was born a C-section, and Macbeth realizing the witches' prophecy was true. Another is any time Macbeth talked to the witches. Probably the most important example of music adding emphasis would be when it's revealed Lady Macbeth is dead - the music just stops (before adding more slow dramatic tunes.

The setting was another astonishingly different element. Goold had the setting be ahead of its time; in 1950s Scotland. The settings had uncanny similarities to Soviet Russia. The giant painting of Macbeth in uniform, the weapons, all of it is related. The production had a very Stalinist theme to it; Setting the story in this mythical 1950s in what appears to be a Soviet controlled country adds a bit of visual interest to the story. Goold keeps the setting industrial and sparse in nature. The war hospital where the story opens is appropriately battered & ruined. The end battle takes place in a bunker or an underground catacomb . Even the kitchen where several key scenes take place is utilitarian and cold. The few times you see any warmth is in the bedroom of Macbeth and his wife. But this scene is bathed in a sickly red light, warm but bloody. Little touches like the listening devices planted in the castle or the huge soviet style poster of Macbeth hanging in the banquet hall add an extra layer to the visuals.

Changing the character of Macbeth from a general turned king into a general turned dictator works well.

The emotion of it as well; Patrick Stewart really brought out Macbeth's evil side. He murdered tons of people without thinking about it. He even made a sandwich while ordering his assassin to kill Banquo,