100 BEST WAR MOVIES #99. Coriolanus (2011)

 

Before Rome became an empire, it had to take control of Italy. 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 is a bit repetitive, but occasionally a battle or person stands out.  One of the most intriguing characters is Coriolanus.  He is a unique figure because he went from hero to traitor.  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 decided 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 includes 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. Martius returns to Rome a hero and is given the agnomen 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.  His political mentor Menemius (Cox) advises him to kiss up to the commoners and tell them what they want to hear.  And it would not hurt his political career to show off his many scars.  Being arrogant and superior to the rabble, Coriolanus is going to find politics difficult.

ACTING:   A                        

ACTION:  N/A                     

ACCURACY:  A      

PLOT:  A                  

REALISM:  B                      

CINEMATOGRAPHY:  A 

SCORE:  none                      

BEST SCENE:  the knife fight

BEST QUOTE:   Menenius:  I am known to be a humorous patrician, and one that loves a cup of hot wine with not a drop of allaying water in it. One that converses more with the buttock of the night than with the forehead of the morning. What I think I utter, and spend my malice in my breath.

Caius Martius Coriolanus 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 is a politician who cannot bottle his true feelings about the masses.  That is pretty unusual, too.  Shakespeare researched him and wrote the play.  Ironically, Coriolanus is more of a character in a Greek play.  He is full of hubris.

                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.

            With a $2 million budget, Fiennes had to be creative.  Much of the film was done with hand-held cameras.  This helps the movie transcend the stage-bound play.  You will feel like you are sitting on the stage.  The one combat scene is worthy of a big budget war movie. It portrays urban combat realistically.  Fiennes uses news footage from the Yugoslav Wars.  It is not seamless, but that was purposeful to make the connection to modern war.  The connection to modern politics is more tenuous.  Coriolanus is the opposite of the demagogues we see today.  However, the rich versus the poor subplot could be predictive.

                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 to some potential viewers who will find the dialogue challenging.  It is best to watch it with 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.

“Coriolanus” is little-known gem.  I am not sure why it is rarely mentioned on lists of good war movies.  It certainly is a war movie.  It has a well-choreographed combat scene in Corioles and the war is central to the plot.  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. 

GRADE  =  A