Gospodin_I

A few days ago I saw what I believe to be one of the greatest films ever made.

That is I believe because it is based on one of the greates plays ever written, and set in one of the most beautiful cities in the world - Venice.

But once again I saw for myself why Shakespeare is so famous and considered such a genious. I’ve never seen so many different layers combined in one character - the Jew Shylock played by Al Pacino in the movie. Of course the pleiad of stars in the movie (Al Pacino as Shylock, Jeremy Irons as Antonio, Joseph Fiennes as Bassanio) contributes A LOT to the movie itself but I think that most credit should be given to the immortal talent of Shakespeare. Once again I have to say that I was exremely impressed by the character of Shylock. I saw how Shakespeare made him the villain in the play - adding a lot of negative qualities and putting many bad things in his mouth in order to please his audience back in the XVI-XVII century, but I could also see how very subtly he made the character appealing to the more informed public. How we could feel pity for him, and maybe even like him. Or if not, at least understand his motives.

I have read, watched as a play or as a movie other works of Shakespeare but I have to admit that “The Merchant of Venice” won its place as my favourite straight away and I am just waiting for some time to watch this masterpiece again.

Of course I have to say that the movie is made fantastically - it is filmed in Venice itself and it is very flaboyant and also looks very authentic.

As a conclusion, to everyone’s astonishment, I would like to say, that I believe “The Merchant of Venice” to be one of the greatest works that criticise anti-semitism.

I watched a German movie called “The Edukators” tonight.

I was really surprised by the message. The movie was very very leftist, probably even too left for my own liking.

The story of the movie was about three left radicals who would enter rich people’s homes and leave messages with anti-rich people character, starting their own “silent revolution”. Mix this with some silent contemplation in the German mountains and classical love triangle and you get a very interesting mix.

If I did not know better I would have thought that the movie was made in Eastern Germany when the wall was still up. Don’t get me wrong - I really liked the movie. Especially the ending - they stayed the same radical left idealists even though they had to tackle a whole lot of challenges. Which gives me power to stand for my beliefs, even when they seem impossible to achieve… And I think that’s what made me and the other people who watched it like it - and not all of them harbour left ideals…

I recommend you the movie if you can find it.