Anonymous
“Anonymous” is an alternately enthralling and frustrating film to watch. The central premise of director Roland Emmerich’s boldest epic yet is the age-old question: Did William Shakespeare write the work he is credited with? Is the pen of an actor of otherwise little note the mind that created “Hamlet,” “Richard III,” “Romeo & Juliet,” and “King Lear?” I’ll leave that for the scholars to decide; what Emmerich, the director of “Independence Day,” “2012,” and “Stargate,” is interested in is the “What ifs?” of John Orloff’s screenplay, which wraps the mystery of Shakespeare’s authenticity into an elaborate conspiracy theory of politics and creativity that would make Oliver Stone blush. I do believe there was a second, or third, gunman in Dallas that day, but whether Shakespeare wrote his own works? I’m not too sure, and neither is Emmerich. That’s part of the fun.
The frustration with “Anonymous” comes not from the questions it asks, but in the film’s labyrinthine way of asking them. Like any good conspiracy theory, there are plenty of ideas wrapping around, but Orloff’s script, and predictably, Emmerich’s direction, has a hard time focusing in on the meat on these particular bones– they leave a lot of fat untouched. The most intriguing parts involve Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford whom “Anonymous” identifies as the probable author of Shakespeare’s plays. His reasons for not taking credit? It all has to do with family; as a part of the Royal hierarchy of the time, to take credit for even the greatest of these plays, or even the most romantic of the Bard’s sonnets, would have led to disgrace not just for him but the family, all the way up to Queen Elizabeth (the radiant Vanessa Redgrave). Rather than see his work languish, or go under the trite, “anonymous,” de Vere reaches out to a playwright of political disrepute, Ben Johnson (Sebastian Armesto). Johnson isn’t sure himself, which opens to door for an illiterate actor, Will Shakespeare (Rafe Spail), to grab credit, turning him into a legend through the power of de Vere’s words. The Earl of Oxford is played by Welsh actor Rhys Ifans, who is a potent revelation in the role– this is the same actor who first made a name with himself for broadly comic roles in “Notting Hill” and “The Replacements?” Believe it; the passion in Ifans’s performance makes one wish we got more into the mind of the artist unable to take credit for his art, and less bogged down in the political gamesmanship for the throne after Elizabeth’s death. If you watch “Anonymous” for no other reason, watch it for the depths of feeling Ifans brings to this rich role. As for the intrigue of the central question Emmerich posts in his handsomely produced film? Stick with the scholars who have already devoted their life to the Bard, rather than listening to the ramblings of a director better suited for destroying the planet.
