Review of O (2001) by Basil I — 11 Dec 2015

Basil Iftikhar.

Othello movie reaction.

Othello, the movie and the play, are both well known and have been seen/read by many. After reading the play and watching the movie I have my own view on each. I feel as if the play does not do as much justice as the movie does. The movie clearly portrays the motives of characters while with the play more deduction is needed to really figure out what is going on (that's why we study it so much). For example when you are finished reading the play, some still wonder what exactly is Iago's motive because it is briefly discussed in act one, but after watching the movie the jealousy of Iago is clear. Iago's jealousy may seem out of proportion in the movie because it is using a highschool setting, and his plans of deception (murder) seem too far fetched, but through his facial expressions and actions you can get a tighter grasp on why and what is actually happening. When he is talking to Oden in the weightroom you can clearly see that he is trying to push Oden to feel as if Dezzy is cheating with all the pauses and the whispering type speaking. In the play you cannot exactly unravel this type of information because everyone reads with their own tone of voice as well as the language is older english, the movie modernizes things for us to better understand the events. What I liked about the play that is better than the movie is that things are not so out of proportion because it matches the setting. For example Othello probably does not want to divorce or separate from Desdemona because it is very against the Church at their time and setting, but Oden easily could have broke up with Dezzy. Usually when things get as heated as Oden was making it out to be, like when he broke down the backboard or when he rants at Dezzy, the couple will break up. That is just normal in this day and age. Overall I would give the play a 6/10 and the movie the upper edge with a 8/10 primarily because the movie is more directed towards my type of audience, while the play is a legendary play it was just hard to read and relate to. I think I would prefer reading the play first then watching the movie because I really enjoyed having those moments where the parallel match and you mind explodes. One really good parallel is in the beginning when Oden, during his speech, calls out Cassio rather than Iago, then you see Iago boiling inside. This parallels to Cassio being Othello's lieutenant and Iago being mad about that. Another good parallel was when the coach of the basketball team was drawing a play he kept saying use Iago as a distraction, and Iago was mad about that. This shows a lack of role and Iago getting upset about as he does about his role in the play.