'O' is gripping, intelligent retelling of classic tragedy
Most recent adaptations of Shakespeare plays have borrowed at least a goodly chunk of dialogue from the Bard of Avon.
In "O," you may catch a stray phrase or two from the play "Othello." But this intelligent, well-paced film rendition forgoes the Elizabethan verse, while capturing the disturbing essence and gripping plot of Shakespeare's classic tragedy.
Cast with attractive young film stars and reliable veteran actors, and reset in a tony prep school, "O" updates the Bard's fateful tale of interracial love, lethal jealousy and eruptive violence quite effectively — and with some artistic and sociological integrity.
In Brad Kaaya's script (astutely helmed by director-actor-playwright Tim Blake Nelson), the Venetian warrior Othello becomes Odin James (stirringly portrayed by Mekhi Phifer), an imposing African-American basketball star.
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A scholarship student who is literally the biggest man on a mostly white, affluent campus, the Michael Jordan-esque Odin is lionized by his teammates, his coach (Martin Sheen) and his white girlfriend Desi (the movie's Desdemona). She's daughter of the school dean (John Heard), and is engagingly played by the pretty young comer, Julia Stiles.
The snake in the grass here, the modern-day Iago, is Josh Hartnett's Hugo, a handsome, callow young hoop player who is getting a lot less court time and glory since Odin came on the scene.
In a payoff plot shift, "O" also makes Hartnett's character the son of Sheen's Coach Goulding — thereby setting up a Freudian rivalry in the locker room that feeds Hugo's mounting rage and insidious scheming.
The story of how Hugo manipulates the vulnerable Odin into a state of jealousy that leads to the death of Desi and others, is relayed simply but potently through exciting basketball sequences, quiet but fraught personal encounters, and a gradual ratcheting of the tension for all the players in the tragedy. That includes Rain Phoenix, poignant here as Desi's insecure sister, Emily.
It is ironic and regrettable that the original release of "O," set for 1999, was delayed several years in the wake of the Columbine High killings and the renewed outcry over movie violence.
The film, like the play "Othello," does indeed end with some distressing acts of bloodshed. But they are treated more seriously and are far more motivated than the aggression in many other movies marketed heavily to teens — including those with more lenient ratings.
If "O" slips into grim purposefulness at times, it never strays from sensitively examining what may help provoke adolescent mayhem: the peer pressure, the class and racial conflicts, the misplaced bravado of youth, and the thoughtlessness of elders encouraging cut-throat competition among kids who can't handle it.
The seriousness of Nelson and Kaaya's approach is undeniable in the final scenes of "O," when murder is portrayed as anything but a casual matter.
When the sad tale ends, the young lives lost are not anonymous or forgettable. And the tragedy is something that's been explored, not exploited.
Misha Berson can be reached at mberson@seattletimes.com.