Tempest [VHS]
by Jack Bender

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VHS Movie Reviews of Tempest [VHS]

Movie Review: Nice try
Summary: 2 Stars

Movie Review: This is a German Language import in PAL FORMAT???
Summary: 4 Stars

Movie Review: The Tempest
Summary: 5 Stars

Movie Review: Missing the Point
Summary: 5 Stars

Movie Review: Not Shakespeare
Summary: 2 Stars

For NON-Shakespeare buffs, I'd say it's a decent tale, setting the play's retold events in the American Civil War. It's a good combination, since we understand the emotions of the tale better in a known context, while the story shows us a different angle on the war. Overall, though, the combination doesn't quite jell.

Some things work very well. The portrayal of Ariel as a black slave is meant to set viewers on edge, especially since Prospero (I'm sorry, that's Gideon Prosper) refuses to set him free for most of the film--one of the clearer signs that Prosper is not just a wronged hero but a driven man who hurts others with his singlemindedness. Judging by other review comments, the director succeeded in making his point.

However, Ariel sounds and acts so clearly like a modern urban black man that it's hard to feel he was raised a slave and a member of a very different culture.

Peter Fonda does a good overall job with Prosper, but the director (and/or scriptwriter) doesn't convince us either why Prosper took up Voudun in the first place or why he gave it up in the end, which limits our understanding of the character.

But the loss of Shakespeare's language, in exchange for modern clarity of a tale that doesn't make that much sense without it, adds up to a film I certainly don't plan to keep.

Drama Video

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