Sony

PG 13 127 min

So I’ve heard the rumors since I studied theater at Akron U. Supposedly there are no original copies of any of Shakespeare’s plays, so no way for any kind of handwriting analysis etc.

The reasons are the basis of many a theory including fire theft water deterioration and a few complicated conspiracies. ANONYMOUS takes on one of those as its basis.

The idea is that the real William Shakespeare having been born into a social class not likely to have the advanced education to write on such a level and lacking the personal discipline for such a chore was, in fact, the Milli Vanilli of his day. On top of that, due to his station in life, may not have had the education to pull off such a scam on his own, let alone write the great works. At least that’s how the speculation goes. Of course there’s probably no definitive answer to a centuries old mystery so any story is fair game. (Hell we still aren’t sure what happened to Jack Kennedy and that was in our lifetime and on TV!)

Just think if Oliver Stone had known the Bard…

This film would be a lot better if it were less complicated. It’s easy to lose track of all the illegitimate children of the ruling class but not so easy to get a grip on the nefarious plots based on natural succession. It’s almost as bad as modern day politics.

Also it’d have been more fun had any of the main characters been just a bit more charismatic.

It’s an interesting view but a story that lacks in the telling.

C

WSS

Email westsidestve@aol.com