ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, January 20, 1996             TAG: 9601220094
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 10   EDITION: METRO 
                                             TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW 
SOURCE: KATHERINE REED STAFF WRITER 

THE MOOR IS STILL MURKY IN THIS MOVIE `OTHELLO'

You could say that Kenneth Branagh steals "Othello."

But who would want it?

Oliver Parker's film "adaptation" of the Shakespeare play magnifies the weaknesses of this particular tragedy, and then compounds them via lots of silly camera gimmicks and a lackluster performance by Laurence Fishburne as "The Moor."

First, a disclaimer: "Othello" is far from my favorite of the Shakespearean tragedies. I remember a professor telling me as an undergraduate that Iago's behavior can only be understood as "motiveless malignancy." I remember writing it down, then thinking, "But WHY?"

Shakespeare liked to write about ambition, but Iago is so over the top, he is a mystery. Sure, he's been passed over for promotion, but why not just get rid of Cassio? Because Iago is purely evil, a sociopath, his hatred for the Moor fuels an even more ambitious plan: to poison Othello's pure love for Desdemona.

It is only that process of poisoning, Othello's psychological twisting in the wind, that makes this play at all interesting. Unfortunately, this adaptation makes that process look too easy. And Fishburne doesn't help things by delivering such a flat performance in the title role.

When he says his heart has become stone and that it hurts his hand to strike it, you really want to yell at the screen, "Hello? Aren't you talking about your head?"

For fun, look to Branagh. Iago is an oily rat with some SERIOUSLY unresolved anger (``Get thee to a therapist!"), but Branagh does somehow make a little sense of him. Parker, unfortunately, has Branagh deliver far too many asides straight to the camera. These have a nearly comical impact, especially since Iago is such a Snidely Whiplash to start with. Parker even has Branagh reach out and cover the camera's eye with his soot-covered hand at the end of the G. Gordon Liddy scene.

What is all this camera consciousness meant to conceal? Probably that Parker doesn't understand this play, either, and that he hoped to camouflage his uncertainty. Unfortunately, as a director, he is obliged to choose a viewpoint.

The alternative is to make a movie that doesn't make much sense about a play that makes just a little.

Othello **

A Castle Rock/Columbia Picture release showing at The Grandin Theatre. 123 mins. Rated R for nudity and violence.|

** (R) for nudity and violence, showing at the Grandin Theatre, 123 minutes.

LENGTH: Medium:   59 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  Irene Jacob is Desdemona, Laurence Fishburne is Othello 
          and Kenneth Branagh is Iago in Oliver Parker's adaptation of 
          Shakespeare's tragedy ``Othello.''