best movie i've ever seen.

Absolutely Brilliant!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I'm sorry Al. I mean, I am stoked that you got to do Will on the big screen, I really am. I am ecstatic that it was one of my favorites and monumentally depressed that labor of loves like this only get a limited screening and small box office reviews.Who wants to see "The Merchant of Venice" anyway? So sayeth the Millennial.Clearly a lot of people do. I mean, how many centuries has it been in production? Is that were they got the name for the sports car? Who knows.The fact is that it was brilliant. Not totally true to the source, but close enough where you're going to sit back and be in Elizabethan bliss.Especially since, for us historians, films depicted so beautifully, as this one was, just reinforces the fact that Shakespeare was the Joss Wheadon of his day.It may be high brow today, but so is Dumas.The fact is, a film like "The Merchant of Venice" if done right, should give you the sense of Elizabethan pulp. You should be able to sit back and understand just how popular he was with the masses of the day. it should be funny and beautiful and dramatic and this film captured all of that. Not as action packed as Hamlet, but just as entertaining.And that was what Shakespeare tried to do, entertain us.

The film is an excellent rendition of Shakespeare's play. The acting is impeccable. There is one serious problem, however: the filmmakers clearly want this film to be used in classrooms, which is obvious given the teacher materials they included on their website. If this is the case, then why on earth would they add so much gratuitous female nudity throughout the film? There are several scenes where there are prostitutes and random women walking down the street whose gowns only reach below their breasts so their nipples and breasts are showing. This is extremely problematic for a film that could otherwise be immensely useful in a classroom.

It starts strong: Captions say that the Jewish discrimination and ghetto have been invented in this city of love and it's really the first time that I discovered the fact. It's again a proof that our European democracies are really old senile states plagued by amnesia if it isn't they are just deceptive and try to brainwash their citizens. In my opinion, the red hat worths a yellow star.Next, if the story is a bit hard to follow as we need a time of adaptation to the flow of a classic play, it becomes more and more interesting: Pacino plays an old Jew that denounces dryly this discrimination. So, when Al's talent meet Shakespeare's inspired quill, it's fantastic: His speech about being just another human being is a great moment! His speech against slavery hits bullseye: a law can be cruel as justice needs also mercy. But Shakespeare isn't only a dissident: his speeches about music and love are really stunning as well. If we can regret that the romantic Venice isn't shown (no piazza, basilica or palazzo) and that some back story aren't really interesting (Al's daughter), the movie has a last surprise as the newcomer Lynn Collins is really mesmerizing, especially when she crosses dressed! The way her character plays and fight for her lover with tremendous law ability and heart, you can conclude that Shakespeare draw a beautiful portrait of a strong woman in a time that was strictly masculine.In conclusion, this movie should be a recommendation for those who would like a good introduction to Shekeaspeare's talent: a bit like our French Moliere, his sharp criticism is dressed under comedy and frivolity so the powerful idiots can't understand what it happens! And if you heard that the movie is anti-semitic, it's not true and it's a trick to strangle the truth: opening the veil about an antisemitic world isn't the same as being antisemitic.(NB: a more personal note: I watched it on evening after having finished reading Dan Brown's "Inferno" in the afternoon. Yesterday, I watched "Deerfield" with the same Pacino. The book takes place in Firenze then Venezia. The movies happen in Firenze then Venezia. The probabilities are so astounding that I ask if I should take this a divine wink? If it's a message, which one? I remember that it has already happens with my last "x-files" review and that I actually read Mark Millar's "Secret Service" which shares the same threat (overpopulation) than "Inferno"! Something is building up through my cultural choices, uh … ?)

I read the book long ago, and had so much confusions. this is not a criticism about the movie, rather the perspective of the story itself.In the story, I think the so called villain here, Shylock, was actually not the actual villain, rather an oppressed Hero. He was the one who was seeing his fellow religious believers being oppressed, prisoned, and being thrown into the rivers, wearing always a mandatory red hat of racism; he was just following his own religion peacefully and minding his own business. he was regularly being spitted on by the dominating part of the society for being a minority member, and being called many mean names in occasions. He was the one who lent huge amount of money, not for earning interest, rather in good faith to his 'hating spitter', to meet a man's non- surviving wants (wants of alluring a wealthy woman into marriage), and then faced complete default and forfeiture at the time of repayment; and moreover he was robbed of his precious wealth by the same borrowing group; the daughter he had and raised was taken away by them (during 1596 conservative traditions, whilst lady Portia was obligated to follow her family's 'husband finding tradition' and yet she did follow).And after all the unjust and undepicted pains and sufferings he had gone through for so long, then he was asking for justice in a court full of that same dominating society members shouting at him with anger and despise; faced the so called legal trial by the judgement of a bias imposter in disguise of a civil doctor. After that he was forced with trickery to give up all his remaining wealth, esteem, daughter, home, and most of all his lifelong religious belief, left all alone in the street to rot in older age with humiliation and disgrace. And the dominating unjust party carried on living wealthy and happily ever after. And all along I felt a deep sigh about this entire concluding injustice.Though for an instance Shylock acted as a merciless villain for insisting on cutting that pound of flesh; but we must not forget or disrespect all his suffered misery in the context for being raging such insanity. I also perceive Antonio to be of a moderately good manner in the court. Finally,to derive and infer from the story, with due respect, I believe most readers and viewers need to reconsider their perceptions, and give it a good thought about what was right and what was wrong. This same story still lives in reality in our modern society in evolving fashion, thus perceptions should be at least close to just.