Anonymous (2011)

As an aficionado to the literature about conspiracies, "hidden knowledge" and more historical curiosities of a doubtful veracity, I have read a little bit about the theories which propose the falsehood of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) as an author of the plays, poems and sonnets which made him such famous...and I honestly don't find them very convincing theories. Even without being a historian, and without being able to confirm the contradictions about dates and places, it's clear to me that the focal point of these "conspiracies" is simply claiming that Shakespeare couldn't have written the most acclaimed English literature for not having the necessary social connections, education and culture in order to achieve that. In other words, those investigators suggest the fact that the greatness from a person is determined by his/her money or social position, and that it's impossible for any "commoner" to possess the necessary talent in order to stand out in his/her occupation. Under that logic, every millionaire person should be an artistic and scientific genius.

The film Anonymous tried to examine that hypothesis about Shakespere, and even though I liked it, I think its screenplay should have been better polished, because its frequent chronological jumps, court intrigues and numerous characters make it occasionally a bit confusing and tiring. Nevertheless, I have to admit that Anonymous generally kept me interested.

Anonymous recreates London in 16th century with an absolute realism and attention to every detail; from the mud on the floor to the extraordinary replica of the Globe theatre, all the visual elements are brilliant, even though they occasionally draw more attention than the necessary. The narrative aspect also suffers from some excesses, and I think that the film could have been a bit shorter by deleting some of the most tangled plans from the villains (or even from the heroes).

The whole cast from Anonymous brings solid performances, highlighting Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave and Rafe Spall. So, in conclusion, I think Anonymous deserves a moderate recommendation despite some tiring moments, because it generally kept me interested.

Fmovies: "The most performed playwright of all time, the author of 37 plays, 154 sonnets & several narrative poems...and yet not a single manuscript of any kind has ever been found written in Shakespeare's own hand." A movie that explores the theory that Shakespeare didn't write any of the things that he is said to. The theory is that The Earl of Oxford (Ifans) wrote them all as a stab at the new Queen (Redgrave) of England. I have said this before but I am not a Shakespeare fan at all, I just don't get him. There are a few movies of his I like but for the most part I am not a fan. Needless to say before watching this I was not that excited at all. Almost instantly the movie grabbed me and I was hooked. For those like me this is not really about Shakespeare at all, but more of a political thriller about trying to start and control a rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I in the 1600's. Weather this is true or not to me doesn't matter but the idea of writing plays as a way to begin a rebellion is a very interesting theory and makes for a very interesting movie. Overall, (from a non-Shakespeare fan) I really enjoyed this movie and recommend this. I give it a B+.

Was William Shakespeare a front for an aristocrat who did not want his name revealed as the author? This movie is about political intrigue and how theater gets caught up in a larger struggle for power. The movie offers an interesting and controversial portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I and a glimpse of life in England at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The printing press was becoming a political weapon and those who published could influence the public, maybe to the point of rebellion. Hence, the need of the government to control what was being performed on stage. The stage served the same function of television does today. It was the medium of mass entertainment, which made the playwright a critical player in the politics of the time. Now, if Shakespeare was a front, then the question is: who wrote all these plays? Maybe it doesn't matter who actually wrote the plays but then again, maybe it does matter because by knowing the author, this may lead to new interpretations of the plays. Maybe these plays were political polemics produced under the guise of historical drama. Whatever the case, one thing is for certain: these plays made an impact on society that continues to reverberate to this day.

One other point. This movie is a work of fiction and so if it is loose with certain historical facts, so what? This movie is not a documentary. Rather, it is a fictional historical drama that revolves around a controversial and even shocking plot. Whether Shakespeare is the actual author of the works attributed to him is not the point. That is a matter for debate. What is the point is whether the movie works as a movie. The story is complex, yet the movie manages to engage the audience through strong acting and by presenting a story crammed with political intrigue. Who can say for certain what was going on in England 500 years ago? It is all a matter for speculation, based upon the available historical material, all of which is subject to interpretation. The idea of English writers bickering and fighting over the authorship of plays may seem trite and far fetched, but the conflict makes for good drama, even if it is pure fiction.

Anonymous fmovies. Greetings again from the darkness. While it is clear that writer John Orloff and director Roland Emmerich believe that Edward De Vere, The Earl of Oxford, and not Will Shakespeare, wrote the infamous and iconic plays we have celebrated for 400 years, my advice is to watch this as a Hollywood movie and not a docu-drama. Hollywood is at its best when exaggerating, twisting and dramatizing historic events and figures.

You may be an expert on Shakespeare and even Elizabethan history, but whether you are or whether you are not, my guess is that you will find this to be interesting and thought-provoking. You may agree with the idea that Shakespeare was not the prolific and talented author, but this movie provides one possible alternative ... with no scientific proof or actual documentation. We see Rhys Ifans and Jamie Campbell Bower portray Edward De Vere as the older and younger version respectively. Both capture his passion for writing and frustration at being unable to live the life for which he was born.

Vanessa Redgrave and her real life daughter Joely Richardson portray Queen Elizabeth at the older and younger stages, and we certainly get a distinctive impression of how "the Virgin Queen" may have been mis-labeled as much as any figure in history. Many lovers and illegitimate children are mentioned and the web of secrecy would have been exhausting, given the other responsibilities of her position.

Rafe Spall portrays Will Shakespeare as what one might call The Village Idiot. The buffoonery we see from this man is an extreme that weakens the case for De Vere, rather than strengthen it. Though talented writer Ben Jonson (Sebastian Armesto) was De Vere's first choice, the lack of morals by the illiterate actor Shakespeare allows him to seize a capitalistic opportunity and soak up the audience love.

The best part of the film is the realistic look and feel of the streets, the Globe Theater and costumes. Rhys Ifans is exceptional in the role of De Vere, and the story itself plays out much like one of Shakespeare's plays. The downside is, I believe most will find the multitude of characters and time-lines and sub-plots to be quite confusing at times. Don't take a bathroom break or you'll miss new babies being born and upheavals being planned.

Everyone in our theater was so mesmerized by this many-layered plot that no one even got up to go the bathroom. My head was spinning a bit, trying to keep up with who was related to whom, but I loved every minute of it.

And I know the cast is highly pedigreed because I recognized some of the actors in the plays from a live performance of Shakespeare the Old Globe Theater troupe gave at UCLA a few years ago while the Old Globe was being renovated. Annette Bening was in the audience that night, so it was a pretty cool evening all around.

After the movie I was at a restaurant next to the theater and I heard a woman say, "I just saw that Shakespeare movie and I'm in a daze."

Go see it and you will be, too. I think I need to see it a few more times to pick up all the fascinating details.

About 300 years after the publication of the first collected works of Shakespeare, the so-called First Folio (1623), a schoolmaster named J. Thomas Looney (pronounced "loanee") facilitated his students in readings of the Shakespeare plays, particularly "the Merchant of Venice". Over the years while watching the plays, hearing their rhetoric, and absorbing this remarkable voice whose Elizabethan presence is still revered and studied today, Looney became convinced the man from Stratford who is attributed to having written the plays (the Orthodox View), was not the true author. He came to believe the name "William Shakespeare" which appeared on two published poems, the later quartos and the First Folio was in reality a pseudonym for someone else, possibly a nobleman. Previously, those who questioned the Orthodox View, sometimes called Anti-Stratfordians, had proposed others of the Elizebethan Age, such as Sir Francis Bacon and Christopher Marlowe, but Looney was convinced the true author was someone never before put forth since Shakespearian scholarship began in the 18th century. Shakespeare has and still does remain shrouded in mystery.

Because Shakespeare biographical detail has been sketchy at best, Looney developed a profile similar to those used by detectives to paint a picture of his candidate, based on elements in the plays. He determined the writer was a nobleman, a Falconer, possibly sympathetic to the Lancastrian side of the Wars of the Roses, and someone who loved Italy and Italian culture. And, most important of all, that he was a poet who possibly had written poems and/or plays under his own name before going under the name of William Shakespeare. After finding a number of primary sources at the British Library, he came up with his findings. Looney proposed a somewhat forgotten nobleman named Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, as being the true identity of the poet/playwright William Shakespeare in a book called simply "Shakespeare Identified".

"Anonymous" is a film based on Looney's original notion that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, penned the plays which would become the greatest literary canon of the English language. The events surrounding the plays, their performances, Oxford's conscious willingness to stay behind the scenes, and the attribution of the plays to the man from Stratford, a businessman who had little or no experience in theatre, are all dramatized in a period film which takes you back to the world of the Elizabethan Stage. One of the best aspects of "Anonymous" is how it relates the plays to political rhetoric of the period. In recent years, Shakespearian scholars have proposed that many figures of the Elizabethan Court were satirized in the plays, such as William Cecil and his son Robert Cecil. The links between the plays and contemporary politics are brought to the fore much more directly than in "Shakespeare in Love".

Character actor Rhys Ifans offers an Oscar-caliber performance as the man who some believe was the real Shakespeare. Ifans finds that delicate balance between the remarkable artist and the troubled nobleman who could not reconcile the two worlds of his life. If Shakespeare was in fact a nobleman who went under a pseudonym, many of the events portrayed in "Anonymous" are plausible. Unlike today, playwrights and poets lived on the periphery of society, and a nobleman of the rank of Oxford writing plays containing charged political rhetoric would have been scanda