Review of Romeo and Juliet Film by Baz Luhrmann.

Ivan Kapkov

IB Literature & Performance

Mrs. Guarino

Write a review of the director’s choices.

Review of  Romeo and Juliet Film by Baz Luhrmann.

The movie Romeo and Juliet is based on Shakespeare’s play that was published in 1623, a love story of two teenagers  from two loyal families that couldn’t stand each other. The Montagues and Capulets are two royal families who have been at  relevant war for many years. Romeo is a young gentleman from Montague's family he is 16 years old. Romeo is young and his mind is everywhere; he is in love with a woman from the Capulet’s family whose name is Rosaline. He doesn't respect the rivalry between two families, because all he wants is peace. Juliet  is a daughter of the Capulet's family; she is 13 years old with a strong character and strong positions. Her parents  want her to marry her to the Prince’s kinsman Paris who is a loyal, powerful, and grown man. Capulet throws a party in the name of their future marriage, and Romeo finds out about the party to see his love Rosaline. He gets to the party with his friends who forced him to go, where he  meets Juliet and the love story begins. Everything happens too fast. They fall in love with each other, and not longer after the party marry each other. The conflict begins  when Tybalt kills Mercutio because Mercutio tried to protect Romeo from the fight; Mercutio gets killed and as a revenge Romeo kills Tybalt.  No one new about Romeo’s and Juliet's marriage except Nurse and Friar Lawrence who got them married. Juliet's parents were forcing her to marry Paris when in the end she made a decision to fake her death so she  can live with Romeo forever without anyone judging them.  Friar Lawrence sends  a letter to Romeo to let him know that Juliet's death is fake so he won't do any harm to himself, but Romeo didn’t get the letter so he went to get a strong poison for himself so that he can die and be with his love. Romeo took a sip of the poison while Juliet  was waking up. In the movie, Luhrmann shows the last scene in the the weird way, because when Romeo took the potion, Juliet was already awake. So it brings me to the point when I question myself why didn’t she stop him.

This movie was created by  Baz Luhrmann in 1996 in Miami. The purpose of this movie was to show the balance between the 16th century’s culture and modern-day culture.  Luhrmann uses modern-day outfits , cars, and guns. But the dialogue is original to Shakespeare’s version. This is an interesting choice because he combines 20th century (1996) and 16th century (1597) worlds and cultures. We can see that the director is trying to get both cultures in one movie. He does it in the particular way by telling the story in the modern setting. Like he provides:  technology, guns, cars, clothing, helicopters and many other modern innovations that did not exist in 1597. The setting of the movie was based in Boca del Rio, Veracruz, Miami, México, Chapultepec Castle, Churubusco Studios, and Immaculate Heart of Mary in the Del Valle. What’s interesting about all of those locations is that there are many of them and that Luhrmann used all of the ways to show the Modern and new world in his movie.

   Luhrmann uses Early Modern language that we don’t use today. Our language today is very different; it is much easier because the common language spoken by most people today is not as complex. But his choice of setting makes it easier for me to understand the content of the play; even if I don’t understand the words, I can understand and recognize the modern day setting and action. The different outfits between two families gives us the audience the fact that their characters are really different from each other. Montague outfits were hippie, colorful T-shirts, Hawaiian leis, funny colorful cars, dyed hair, goofy and free, while Capulets costumes are formal, black, slick hair, suits, blazers, ties, professional looking and serious and basic. What’s good about this choice is that we can see the difference between the two families and their cultures, their natures, how they represent themselves and their house. Capulets were gangsters, Montagues were goofy kids.

 Casting the perfect actress for the role is also very important, because the actors are the main reason people go and watch movies. Luhrmann did a great job in casting  Leonardo DiCaprio as “Romeo,” Claire Danes as “Juliet,” John Leguizamo as “Tybalt,”  Harold Perrineau as “Mercutio,” Pete Postlethwaite as “Friar Laurence,” and Paul Rudd as “Count Paris.” DiCaprio was a young and handsome actor, and Danes was a pretty, young girl with a lot of talent. I think it’s incredible that they cast an actor of color for the role of Tybalt. He plays a gangster character, he has tattoos, black hair that’s slicked back, guns with family insignia. Perrineau is another actor of color, playing Mercutio, who gives his life to protect Romeo.  Pete Postlethwaite a good actor with experience who plays “Friar Laurence,” the priest that married Romeo and Juliet.  Paul Rudd is the young and handsome man who perfectly fits in the role of  “Paris.”In the original play, Shakespeare did not have actors of color in mind for these parts, this is another director’s choice that brings us into the modern world.

The special effects like weather changes reflected a lot on this movie. Whenever someone died, the weather changed: it was raining and dark. When Romeo and Juliet married, it was sunny and bright. When they died, it was dark, raining, and lightning. These choices showed that the events were positive or negative. The music also shows the movie’s soul. Music is really important and basic factor that creates emotions that helps audience to understand the scene or scenes.

From watching and reading both the movie and the play, I can see the changes that Luhrmann brought to the movie. Those special effects and all the changes makes this movie interesting to watch. New and young actors brought special and specific attitude to the movie that brought audience attention.