Story of "O"

I've been deeply affected lately by Shakespeare's tragedies. It's the end of the year, and I'm quickly taking my seniors through all of Shakespeare's major tragedies because I was never exposed to them when I was in high school. We did Hamlet, and the kids liked it. But they're really into Othello.

After quickly going through the text, this week, we watched the modern film version of Othello with Kenneth Branaugh and Lawrence Fishburne. I don't care much for Fishburne's Othello - he makes some acting choices that make him seem almost epileptic - but Branaugh is more than brilliant. Watching him you can't but help think that this is a man who was born to do this.

Today, we started watching the movie "O" with my students: it's a modern updating of the Shakespeare tragedy "Othello." Not line for line, but idea for idea. High schoolers really get into Othello. I think it's because of the themes. Othello is a story about a black Moor who's risen to a powerful position of influence as a General in Venice. He's an outsider who can't trust many, except Desdemona, a woman he marries secretly. She is white. he is black, and the racial tension therein underscores the entire play. When Othello chooses Michael Cassio as his second in command, Iago's plots to cause the Moor's downfall. He builds an intricate snare of lies and half-truths to eventually causing Othello to fundamentally distrust Desdemona. Othello's tragic flaw is his jealousy - the green-eyed monster that doth mock the flesh it feeds upon - and Iago builds an intricate .

In Iago, Shakespeare creates a character who, a bit like Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, is simply evil. We never find out why Iago does what he does. Is it wounded pride that he was overlooked for a promotion? Is it sexual jealousy about Desdemona? Is it racial prejudice? All unlikely. In short, Iago does what he does because that's who he is. He hates Othello. He just does.

This is probably why Shakespeare purists hated the movie "O", because in it, the character of Iago, whose name is changed to Hugo, is provided a real motivation. The story is transplated from Venice to a rich, private high school set in the south, where Odin James is the star point guard. Just like Othello, he gains his acceptance - albeit a shaky acceptance - from the white folks because of of his abilities in "battle" as a "floor general." The coach is Hugo's dad, and in the opening scene you understand why Hugo hates O. While presesnting Odin with the MVP trophy, Hugo's dad calls Odin up and says that he loves him like a son.

There's a scene where Hugo, played by Josh Hartnett, goes into his father's office. It's a single shot of the office. You can only see Hugo, who walks in slowly into the dim office, and sits down. His father is off-screen.

"It's been a long time since you invited me in here to have supper with you," Hugo says, sitting down.

"What is going on with Odin," you hear the voice of his father, Martin Sheen, say.

And you just see Hugo's face drop. Almost imperceptively.

"I don't know," he says. "I saw him today in English class. He seemed fine." Hugo pauses.

"I'm getting an A in English again," he says.

"That's nice," his father says. "I'm glad I don't have to worry about you. It's Odin I'm worried about. He doesn't have anybody else. Heck, there isn't another black person on this college. We need to help him."

His father stands up, and walks by the camera, his face never visible.

"Why don't you stay here and finish your dinner," he says.

The camera slowly zooms in to Hugo. Watch his reaction shot. It's brilliant. He slowly sets down his tray, then zips up his jacket over his mouth, and holds his arms close to him. It's as though it just got cold in the room. Or that he's trying to protect himself. Or that he just pulled the covers over his head, like a toddler.

This film had the misfortune of being slated to be released in April of 1999, but then Columbine happened. Miramax held the film because of pressure from Washington. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote this about it:

We have a peculiar inability in our country to understand the contexts of things; when it comes to art, we interpret troublesome works in the most literal and simple-minded way. In the aftermath of Columbine, Washington legislators called on Hollywood to police itself, and rumbled about possible national censorship. Miramax caved in by suppressing this film. To suggest that ''O'' was part of the solution and not part of the problem would have required a sophistication that our public officials either lack, or are afraid to reveal, for fear of offending the bottom-feeders among their constituents.

So now here is ''O,'' a good film for most of the way, and then a powerful film at the end, when, in the traditional Shakespearean manner, all of the plot threads come together, the victims are killed, the survivors mourn, and life goes on. It is clearly established that Hugo is a psychopath, and that his allies are victims of that high school disease that encourages the unpopular to do anything in order to be accepted. Those who think this film will inspire events like Columbine should ask themselves how often audiences want to be like the despised villain.

Odin's final speech is powerful, and the final scene in the movie makes even my most rambunctious classes sit quietly. Good stories will do that.