91% Caesar Must Die

All Critics (43) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (4)

A film somewhere between documentary and neo-realist drama.

There's barely a wasted moment in the film, which runs a brisk 76 minutes and contains no female roles.

There's an intensity and emotional accuracy to the performances that's just stunning, particularly Striano's Brutus, as he longs for death and release.

It's an arresting, playful and moving film ...

Prison theatricals are nothing new in the movies, but Caesar Must Die, a quasi-documentary featuring hardened convicts acting out Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, is in a class by itself.

Ranks among the most involving adaptations of Shakespeare ever put on screen ...

Destined to lose years in prison, the actors seem to take pride -- and solace -- in their association with something as seemingly immortal as Shakespeare's words.

As they find issues and themes they can relate to, the action is never remotely static despite the frequent nature of the close-ups and the plastic sword.

The problem with the film, which somewhat inexplicably won the Golden Bear at Berlin last year, is that it scarcely transcends the basic novelty of its premise.

The juxtaposition of Shakespearean text and prison cell life is a particularly poignant one.

It is difficult to understand exactly where documentary ends and fiction begins, but the finale, again in colour, of the triumphant first night of the production can't fail to move.

It's never anything less than interesting, though I felt it didn't quite fulfil its potential, and the repetition of material at the beginning and end is disconcerting.

It is uncanny how Italy's film-makers keep failing to nail, or effectively to satirise, their country's strident political shortcomings.

Deeply felt melancholy lingers long after the credits roll.

Delivers a compelling and considered take on immemorial themes.

[It] has plenty of wit and punch, although compared to the best of the medium - Man On Wire, for instance - it sometimes comes off as guileless and clunky.

[An] inventive, urgent and humane prison drama, in which real-life Mafia and Camorra prisoners act in a version of Julius Caesar.

If you're looking for an adventurous thought-provoking film, "Caesar Must Die" more than fits the bill.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/caesar_must_die_2012/

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