All these themes, as well as others, are found in Hamlet. However, it is important to remember that Hamlet himself is at the center of everything, and it is on him that all the great themes are focused. There is no other character in literature so rich, so complex, so enigmatic, at once so opaque and transparent. In plays, characters are developed, in part, by monologues, dialogues, and actions. However, characters are also developed be choices made by directors, actors, and set designers. These elements all play into the way that we, as an audience perceive the characters, and the play as a whole. Of course, Shakespeare can live or die on the strength of the cast. Mel Gibson, in the lead, was a very pleasant surprise. I don't mean to put down Gibson with this, as he has been excellent elsewhere before. Yet I was still caught unawares by the strength of his work here: he gives a very empathetic performance that remains coherent despite the Prince's erratic and inscrutable behaviour. Alan Bates and Ian Holm (as Claudius and Polonius, respectively) lead the impressive supporting cast: both are strong, if not exceptional. Helena Bonham-Carter is a winsomely bewildered Ophelia, effective despite the even more truncated than usual nature of her part. The only real weak link is Glenn Close, decidedly unimpressive as Gertrude: she never quite seems to find any strong attitude to take to the character. Despite the strong performanes, I remained fairly indifferent to this Hamlet. Zeffirelli is right not to be afraid of the text, but I felt by the end that too much had been cut. The worst example was Ophelia's madness; undermotivated at the best of times, it here seemed particularly arbitrary. (I can imagine a first time viewer failing to make the link to Polonius' death). This is unfortunately typical of the film's entire treatment, in which events seem to happen at random, and far too suddenly. (I kept saying to myself "What? They're up to th...
