CAESAR MUST DIE – SLIFF Review

I came into this film expecting to watch a period film. To a certain extent, this is was I was looking forward to seeing. Obviously not all of those big budget 1950’s movies with all star casts–which normally included, Richard Burton!  I don’t hate all of those old, Hollywood films, with their colorful matte paintings and phony set design, but I didn’t exactly want to see a modern version of that. Oliver Stone already had gone that route with ‘Alexander.’

No, this is a different type of film altogether. Shot in Italy, it takes an approach which is both clinical in a documentary way—sparing no one—and still dramatic, with the characters from Shakespeare—and the actors portraying them—lap dissolve from reality to fantasy in the blink of an eye. Although down and dirty, and documentary in tone, the movie is not without passion or drama.

 In case it wasn’t obvious, this is a retelling—via Shakespeare—of Julius Caesar’s murder at the hands of supposed friends. Friends can be so wonderful, can’t they?

 Filmed within the Italian Prison, Rebibbia Prison, the warden, obviously an unusual person and a famous theater director ask the inmates if they would like to appear in this powerful play. We see their auditions which show both talent, and in some cases, an extreme psychosis. Some of the characters get engrossed in their parts, while others seem to be acting not just the character in the play, but themselves as well. There are many connections between the dialogue of Shakespeare and the history of the tale and the lives of the prisoners. The interconnection between these elements makes the film a fantastic experience.

 You not only will come away with an understanding of the history of Caesar, the plot of Shakespeare, but how it metaphorically seems to parallel the sad, sordid lives of the inmates of the ugly, severe prison. This film is definitely worth seeing.