Coriolanus (2011)

                I am currently reading Livy’s history of Rome, specifically the accounts of wars and battles.  Virtually every year, Rome was at war with one or more neighboring cities.  One of those perennial opponents were the Volscians.  They were a real thorn in Rome’s side.  The Romans won almost every battle against them (according to Livy).  There was a lot of ravaging of the enemy’s territory, by both sides.  It’s a bit repetitive, but occasionally a battle or person stands out.  One of those heroes was Coriolanus.  He is a unique figure because he went from hero to traitor.  His story also incorporates the ongoing strife between the patricians and the plebeians.  Over the years, the plebeians had gotten more power from the patricians.  Sometimes it took protests and strikes.  One significant gain was the creation of government officials called tribunes.  The tribunes represented the plebeian class.  They could prevent Senate legislation that was deemed harmful to the lower class.  William Shakespeare found the legend of Coriolanus to be worthy of a tragedy.  “Coriolanus” is not one of his famous plays, but it made for a good war movie.

                “Coriolanus” was a project of Ralph Fiennes.  He made his directorial debut.  He made the decision to put the play in a modern setting.  The characters dress contemporaneously, but their words are Shakespeare’s.  He had an outstanding cast to work with.  Besides himself, the cast included Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, Jessica Chastain, and Brian Cox.  It was filmed in Serbia and Montenegro which was appropriate because although set in Rome, the film uses the Yugoslav Wars as a template.  The movie cost $8 million, but made only $2 million.  Fiennes was nominated for a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer.

                Rome is in a food crisis.  There is martial law to cope with the unhappy lower class.  Protest marchers descend on the grain depository yelling “Bread!  Bread! Bread!”  A general named Caius Martius (Fiennes) stands up to the mob.  He calls them ingrates and refers to  them as  “fragments”.  A phalanx (a unit used by the Romans at the time against the Volscians) of police banging on their shields confronts the protesters.  The city of Rome has this civil unrest while it is also at war.  There is a lot of bitterness between the Romans and the Volscians.  The Volscian leader Tullus Aufidius (Butler) executes a Roman captive on video shared with the Romans.  Martius and Aufidius are sworn enemies who have vowed to kill each other.  Being able to leave the stage, the movie is able to depict urban fighting in the city of Corioles.  Martius leads an assault on a building held by Aufidius and his men.  Martius is a killing machine and his rampage ends with a knife fight with Aufidius.  An artillery shell creates belligerence interruptus.  Martius returns to Rome a hero and is given the cognomen Coriolanus.  His mother Volumnia (Redgrave) encourages him to run for consul (similar to a president).  He is a reactionary  who wants to return to the good old days when the plebeians lacked any power.  He manages to fake respect for the lower class, but in the end, he is a military man, not a politician.  His political mentor Menemius (Cox) advises him to kiss up to the commoners, but Coriolanus just can’t help but rant about the damned rabble.  He ends up banished from Rome.  He is determined to make Rome pay.

                I realize I am more open to the play “Coriolanus” because I have an interest in Caius Martius.  He is one of the most interesting figures in the Roman Republic.  Livy wrote his history to make Romans proud of their heritage.  His history emphasizes great Romans, starting with Romulus.  Most of those heroes are saintly.  Gaius Martius is unique -a brilliant general defeats Rome’s enemy and later goes over to their side!  Not only that, he’s a politician who can’t bottle his true feelings about the masses.  That’s pretty unique, too. 

                Ralph Fiennes deserves a lot of credit for bringing the play to the screen.  He assembled an outstanding cast, but his performance is the standout.  Coriolanus is a character who an actor can really sink his teeth into.  Fiennes is brilliant in depicting a man who tries but fails to keep his true feelings bottled up.  He is like a tea pot coming to boil.  Fiennes’ involvement reminds of Laurence Olivier’s and Kenneth Branagh’s takes on Shakespeare’s “Henry V”.  Both did great acting jobs in portraying the king, but Henry was portrayed as a sympathetic figure.  He is able to come down to the level of his common soldiers.  “Henry V” is a drama. “Coriolanus” is a tragedy.  His hubris can not be contained.  The great warrior and failed politician is also a momma’s boy, which will factor into the ending of the movie. 

                Fiennes decision to place the play in a modern setting and to allude to the Yugoslav Wars was brilliant.  That messy situation is the closest to Rome versus Volsci that could be found.  The rubble of Corioles is similar to Livy’s sacked city.  Other than the police phalanx, Ancient Roman warfare is not replicated in the movie, for obvious reasons. However, other than that, the movie adheres to Livy’s tale faithfully.  For this, we have to credit Shakespeare for doing his research.  The decision to keep Shakespeare’s dialogue will be oft-putting for some potential viewers who would need more than subtitles.  Shakespeare’s words feel a bit anachronistic, but the brilliance of his dialogue overcomes this.  Screenwriter John Logan wisely pared down the speeches to their essentials.  Thanks.

                I am approaching the end stage of creating my 100 Best War Movies list.  It is a bit perturbing to see great war movies this late in the game.  I recently have been looking at various lists of good war movies to see if I have missed any.  Usually when I watch the rare “great” war movies that I hadn’t seen yet, I wonder about the sanity of the list-maker.  “Coriolanus” is the rare gem.  I am not sure why it is rarely mentioned.  It certainly is a war movie.  It has a well-choreographed combat scene in Corioles.  Speaking of choreography, the knife fight is amazing. It took two days to film.  Unlike “Henry V", it is solid to the end.  Livy, Shakespeare, and Fiennes make for a great collaboration.  It’s available on Tubi.

GRADE  =  A