Movie Review

I still remember the day I first saw Romeo + Juliet at the cinema. It was 1996, and I was just 17 years old. I'd never heard of Baz or Bazmark Inq, and so I entered the cinema with a youthful naivety. Of course I knew of the play, I'd studied it at high school with great enthusiasm. Unlike many of my peers, Shakespeare had always interested me and I was therefore curious about this new film. However, what increased my curiosity was the fact that all my friends were raving about it too…

I smiled a little as the television appeared in the opening scene, and thought to myself what a marvellous idea it was to have a newsreader cite the opening dialogue. But nothing could prepare me for the spectacle that followed, and I found myself gripping the arms of my chair, staring at the screen in utter wonderment as I watched the frantic images flash before me. The movie filled me with a sense of exhilaration and excitement, and immediately I was engrossed in the fictitious world of Verona. And yet it didn't seem fictitious at all for, as the movie began to progress, I found more and more aspects of the film that I could identify with.

I noticed the multitude of clever modern references from the very beginning, and marvelled at how the story had been transformed into such an intense sequence of opening frames. The defining moment for me was when Benvolio emerges at the gas station bearing his gun and shouting, "Part fools, you know not what you do!" The camera zooms towards his gun to reveal the brand name, "Sword 9mm Series S". He cries, "Put up your swords!" and the meaning of the words became instantly apparent. I remember thinking to myself that this idea of transforming swords into guns was pure genius, and I was immediately hooked.

The year I first saw Romeo + Juliet was my final year of high school, and so I was able to observe the reaction of my teenage peers. It turned out the movie was totally infectious. Everyone at my school was talking about it, and everyone who saw it was eager to share how it had affected them. There were the typical teenage musings about Leo and Claire, and of course the soundtrack was suddenly on everyone's shopping list. But what amazed me most was the fact that many of my peers who had never enjoyed Shakespeare before were suddenly eager to learn more about the play and even the man himself. I remember we studied some of Shakespeare's plays in our English class that year, and we happened to be studying 'Romeo and Juliet' around the time that the film was released. I had never seen such enthusiasm about the text, and it was fantastic to see how much of a positive influence the film had on the people around me. The effect that Romeo + Juliet had on me was also profound. I bought the soundtracks, the video, the screenplay, and even the Complete Works of Shakespeare. The movie definitely made Shakespeare more accessible to me and increased my interest in learning more about his works.

It wasn't until a few years later that I began to realise the significance of the people behind the lens, and the unstoppable genius of Baz Luhrmann who was the inspirational visionary behind the entire project. It was actually the release of Moulin Rouge! that made me decide to launch this fansite and revisit the phenomenon that was Romeo + Juliet. But, to this day, Romeo + Juliet is still my second favourite film of all time, a very close second to Moulin Rouge!