Review of Anonymous (2011) by Citizencharlie — 31 Oct 2011

Audiences may sometimes divide themselves when it comes to historical fiction. There is the faction who appreciates a fictional story assigned to a true historical figure to create an engrossing book or movie. Conversely, there arises a vocal minority who deride the story as an affront to what actually happened in history; they worry the uninformed masses will be swayed by the fiction and falsely believe the fiction to be true. Such is the case with Anonymous.

In this story, which furthers the case of a scholarly minority who do not believe William Shakespeare (Rafe Spall) authored all of those plays, Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford (Rhys Ifans), was the true genius behind the words. As an Earl, his station was superior to writing and associating with the rabble in a place such as the Globe Theatre. However, his gift required an outlet. He heard the voices of his characters and felt the physical need to commit those voices to paper. Left at this level, the film would have been more scholarly and actually about the canon itself, but director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, 2012) appears to have desired a more suspenseful thriller.