Last night, I was supposed to meet a friend in Tacoma, Washington
at The Grand Cinema to see the movie “42”.
However, plans changed unexpectedly as traffic was unkind and we were
delayed. Instead of being upset about missing
the movie, and not waiting for the next showtime, we opted for the very next
movie “whatever it was”. At the time, we
didn’t realize that the movie we were going to see would be “Caesar Must Die” (Cesare deve morire),
that it was part of a film festival with only one showing at The Grand, and that it was an Italian film about a
theater program where prisoners learned and performed Shakespeare’s “Julius
Caesar”.
It was awesome! …
and I truly mean AWESOME. Not only did
we see the genius of Shakespeare’s play of Julius Caesar and his murder (in Italian and with English subtitles), but throughout the film, we witnessed the miracle of what theater does in our lives, whether through
observation as audience or participation in the production process. Based on a true story, it was clear that the
men who portrayed Shakespeare’s iconic characters saw their lives reflected in
the art. They “got it”, and lives
changed.
Theater has the power to bring us into community, into
harmony and to understand ourselves.
This was never more evident in the story telling of this film … and I
was never more uplifted than through this unexpected encounter with
genius. Serendipitous too, it was
Shakespeare’s birthday!
Here is a review from the New Yorker
If you have a chance, see it!!
