Review of Anonymous (2011) by Zachary M — 04 Jul 2016

What if William Shakespeare wasn't the author of William Shakespeare's plays? That is probably one of the original "conspiracy theories" of the modern world, and like most other conspiracy theories, it breaks down like this; interesting at first with some intriguing 'evidence' but with some more time to stop and really rationalize it falls apart pretty quickly.

However, this doesn't stop the film, Anonymous, from providing a fascinating, if not historically flawed, look at the idea. The film strongly plays up the secret and cut throat world of English politics and royal in fighting very well. It also manages to provide a lot of sympathy for its main character, who is torn between his true love, poetry and the theater, and his duties of being an Earl, a political figure not unlike a Duke or Count.

The framing device is also very clever setting the entire thing as a play within a play you and the fictional audience are watching. In a sense it's not trying to tell a "this is how it really happened" story, but an intentional look into speculative alternate history. With plenty of action, romance, and betrayals about, it would occur to me that any Game of Thrones fan would have a good time watching this one off story of political and artistic re-working England's royal heritage. There are no dragons in this of course, but with all the edits to history, I can only wonder why not?