Blog Post #4

Watch the Baz Luhrmann version of Romeo and Juliet. How does the film adapt the last two acts of the play? What emotion & message is the audience left with and how does the film create this emotion/send this message?

The last two acts of this movie are staged much darker and eerier than the first three. The beginning and most of the middle of the movie use modern music, brighter lighting and more colorful scenery. The movie took a darker turn as the plot of the text itself began to involve death, politics and violence. The movie makes this change very obvious to the viewers yet still keeps the change simultaneously subtle and gradual. Slowly, scene by scene, the lighting gets darker and the music gets more intense. The soundtrack follows the shift in mood and carries the musical themes from the earlier portion of the movie but holds them in a heavier or darker way. The themes are often played slower or with more low instruments to illustrate the feelings of the characters. These feelings include sorrow, fear and especially grief, which are translated through all these aspects of film and through the staging/acting to the audience in a truly profound way.

The last death scene is very different in this adaption from the play, although I believe it fits the movie well. The last scene evokes strong emotions from the audience through a very important idea which is often hard to put into words. The scene emotes a feeling almost everyone has felt but cannot explain, the idea of being so close yet so far away. The moment when Romeo enters the church and after what he believe to be his last moments of life, the camera focuses on Juliet’s hands as she begins to wake up. This is crucial to the build up of the sorrow felt by both Romeo and Juliet, as a complete lose of hope and joy will overcome the screen when Romeo drinks the poison. These few seconds where the couple is so close to being together yet somehow the timing is still wrong, is essentially gut wrenching. This leaves the audience in complete grief and disbelief as it seems unfathomable to be so close to happiness but in seconds have it all disappear. When Juliet shoots herself, the theme of the ‘star-crossed’ lovers is reemphasized to an aching extent for the audience. This scene plays into the drama of the tragedy and caters to the modern audience’s thirst for love, disaster and misfortune to be represented in one movie.

The most troubling and heartbreaking moment of the last scene which evoked a strong sense of sadness in myself, was the few seconds of eye contact and conscious touch the two had. When Romeo asks Juliet to kiss him, both understanding it was their last moments together, it is so incredibly tragic, the audience can only help but feel the pain of the characters, and thus the purpose of the movie has been completed. The film does a great job of conveying emotions in a truthful and accessible way. The modernization of the text allows for the audience to connect to the Shakespeare text and relate to the pain involved in the love. The weeping of Juliet and soft, slow death of Romeo contributed to the movie’s sentiment and sincerely told the romance.