Roman Polanski's interpretation of Macbeth is a must to watch for all Shakespeare lovers. It achieves to capture the ambiance and characterization in the play quite successfully. One of the scenes I particularly enjoyed was the duel between Macbeth and Mcduff at the end of the movie. The reasons of my liking are the way it reflects the contrast between Macbeth and Mcduff, and (although this is not completely related to the play) the realistic choreography that it presents.
It is easy to spot that Macbeth and Mcduff have somewhat opposite personalities. Macbeth craves power, betrays his oaths and kin, and slaughters innocents. On the other hand Mcduff is a man of honor. He is courageous and loyal. Most importantly he even prioritizes his duty as a loyal subject to the royalty over his duty to his family. He is almost anti-Macbeth. That means in general their duel should also represent the contrast and conflict between good and evil. Therefore, more specifically based on the character traits we have, the final confrontation between the two can be interpreted as a delivery of punishment, with Macbeth symbolizing the criminal and the guilt, and Mcduff symbolizing the justice. I assume that Polanski also thought of this situation in the manner I do, and decided to portray the scene like a public trial. When Mcduff challenges Macbeth, everyone else backs off, and it is just between him and Macbeth. Mcduff plays the inquisitor role, and as he pushes Macbeth back, he questions Macbeth’s actions in the public's eye. He finally kills Macbeth, meaning that he found Macbeth guilty of the charges and executed the appropriate punishment. The crowd cheers, as they think justice has been served. This portrayal and idea represent their characters and the public's view about them perfectly.
The other aspect of the scene I most enjoyed was the realism in the choreography in the sword-fighting moments. Numerous movies exaggerate such scenes so much that it becomes painful to watch. Often you see characters jumping and flipping, showing flexibility that the armor they are wearing must prevent. These are all done to create an exciting and fast-paced scene, so that the audience does not get bored while watching it. However, real sword-fighting, where you fight for your life, does not involve such elements. Every blow should be impactful, filled with emotion and audience must get nervous for the outcome of the match instead of enjoying the fancy moves. Polanski achieved this by focusing on the character contrast rather than the flashy choreography. Also, it must be noted Macbeth has a semi-realistic setting, therefore I would aspect fighting to be done exactly it was done in medieval Scotland. This was accomplished too, as Mcduff delivers his final blow not to the armor itself, but through a hole in the armor, which is actually a huge detail since in many movies armors have no functionality rather than mesmerizing the audience.
That's a a very good interpretation of the battle scene between Macbeth and Macbeth. However, I would like to point out that in the beginning of the battle, Macbeth seems to have overpowered Mcduff and had almost won the battle until he finds out that Mcduff is not born out of a woman the way he had thought it to be, and this shatters Macbeth's confidence which probably was fueling his success in battle.
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