Hamlet Parent Guide

After the death of his father (Avijit Dutt), Hamlet (Riz Ahmed) is distraught. His sorrow is not lessened by the fact that, mere weeks after the death, his mother Gertrude (Sheeba Chaddha) has agreed to remarry – his own uncle, Claudius (Art Malik). The grieving Hamlet is horrified by the disrespect the quick marriage shows his father’s memory, a horror that increases when he sees his father’s ghost. The specter informs him that he was murdered by Claudius, and that Hamlet’s duty as a son is to avenge this foul crime – if he can. The price for vengeance, however, may be steeper than Hamlet imagines. 

Those of you familiar with Hamlet may have noticed that this film is considerably shorter than a full performance of the play – those usually run closer to three hours. While I hesitate to say that there’s any fat to trim on one of Shakespeare’s most celebrated works, I will say that the film has survived this editorial amputation. It hits the high spots you’d expect, and Riz Ahmed is electrifying as the lightly balanced prince – in fact, the whole cast is very good.

Moving the play from Denmark to London spurs a few less significant changes to the story. More noticeably, setting it in a South Asian community makes this a good deal more colorful than some adaptations of the tale. For instance, I don’t recall ever seeing quite so many dancers in the play Hamlet puts on to snare Claudius. It was refreshing to see such wildly different staging for such a familiar text. 

Shorter runtime notwithstanding, Hamlet still isn’t for kids – unless it’s the version served up as The Lion King. The play is, as ever, tragic and bloody. (The writers even manage to retain some of the bawdy jokes the Bard penned for the groundlings who bought the cheap tickets.) But for younger audiences, the larger problem is the complexity of the late 16^th century language. This isn’t one of Shakespeare’s most analyzed plays for nothing, and the double meanings, metaphors, and puns which litter his speeches make it the reason for that clear. Younger audiences or those less familiar with the story will likely struggle to keep up.

While this adaptation isn’t quite as thorough as, say, Kenneth Branagh’s brilliant 1996 version (which runs close to four hours), this Hamlet has a real intensity which makes it well worth watching. You may not find all the side characters you remember, but you will find the same fascinating exploration of duty, revenge, love, and loss. 

About author

Keith Hawkes

Keith Hawkes graduated from Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada with a degree in English and History. His interests are movies, American literature, science fiction, almost every kind of music, and museums. He enjoys criticizing films for fun - although he's okay with being paid for it.