Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 movie ‘William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet’ is a very accessible version of the play. Modern secondary school students, I think, react to this movie in a similar way to how Shakespeare’s original -- audience would have reacted. We forget how revolutionary this early play of Shakespeare’s was, but Luhrmann brings his audience face to face to the scandal of tampering with the Bard.
Whenever I have taught Romeo and Juliet to high school students, I dither over whether to show the movie first and then introduce them to the written text, or to plow through the script and then treat them to the movie. The gulf between 21st Century Australian state school students and Elizabethan England is narrowed by the visual interpretation and modernisation of the movie. The script is all taken from the original play, although not all the script is used. Some scenes are changed around or ommitted, and some changes to character storylines have been made.
Baz Luhrmann has set his version in a fictionalised Verona Beach in Florida. There is a Jesus monument on the hills overlooking the city, much like the Bolivian Jesus monument at Cochabamba. Skyscrapers are topped by the trade names Capulet and Montague to reinforce the conflict between the two families.
Romeo and Juliet meet at a party -- discovering each other through the symbolic barrier of an aquarium.
Click on the image below to play the video in YouTube (HD)
The desensitized nature of the modern movie audience glories in the violence of this movie. Gun play, explosions, and the final double suicide are compelling and disturbing. I will often not play the final suicide scene because of its glorification of teen suicide. I think this is a dangerously attractive portrayal of suicide that I would rather not expose my students to.
Locations
Alameda, California.
Chapultepec Castle, Chapultepec Park, Mexico City.
Estudios Churubusco Azteca, Mexico City.
Useful Links
William Shakespeare’s Romeo+Juliet at Wikipedia
Romeo and Juliet Official Site includes information on Shakespeare, setting, production notes.
Bazmark -- Baz Luhrmann’s Official Site
Craig Armstrong (Composer)
DVD Special Edition
Available at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
Includes
- Subtitles in Spanish and English
- Audio commentary by Baz Luhrmann (director, co-writer, producer), Catherine Martin (production designer), Don McAlpine (cinematographer), and Craig Pearce (co-writer).
- Director’s Gallery and Cinematographer’s Gallery
- Interview with Catherine Martin, Production Designer
- Two TV Trailers
- Cast and Crew Interviews
- Music Videos: “Young Hearts Run Free” by Kym Mazelle, and “Kissing You”, by Des’ree.
Music from the Motion Picture
Volume 1 and Volume 2 at Amazon.com
this was a great film
you know what i think… i think this movie is lame and over played.. it runied my day.. zero stars
romeo and juliet gave their lives for each other – thats sad
i love this movie!!!!!<3
great movie
our school is doing a shakspear play and im in the play taming of the screws and im kathrean
this movie is hard to understand i saw it in school.
Congratulations! You have just labeled yourself a closed-minded illiterate.
(The previous was in response to Stephanie. Cheers!)
i love this movie! leanardo is hot stuff.;)
GREAT MOVIE YA’LL.
so basically this movie rocks my whole wide world.!
leonadro’s a hottie with a body.
id tap that.;)
i really like this movie. It’s a very passionate movie. This is the best love story ever!
yh we are doin courzework on it we all loved it it a good film comparred to da ova 1 int ppl xx i wud watch it everiday wud you lot xx from liljay-dee xx
yo wtf this movie is mad gxexy.
yeah!!! your right guys!! this film is reall very very!! gooooooood!!! I could watch it everyday…
this movie can make my tears falling down…
i love this movie,mnore than anything
penuh dengan pengorbanan…
are you sure…?
will watch this movie everiday..?
I think this film is a let down to the film industry. I think its patheticly silly how they die at the end. Maybe they should of got ran over or something traditional but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO they had a pukka pie moment where they kill each over.. But thats my opinion.. peace out dudes..xxxxxxxxx
jGeez, Rob, you should stick to singing! Don’t go into film critiques. You sound like an idiot and your music is too original and nice for that. (Although I know I’m speaking to a dead man). The very point of Romeo and Juliet which you obviously and embarassingly missed, is that they were so young. The young do things they would never think of doing even five years later. She was only 13 or 14 and he was about l5 or l6.
I think that Romeo and Juliet is a classic. It is brilliantly written and brilliantly acted and directed. Etc. I (L) it soooo much. I could watch it over and over
ayayaya
i dont see how anyone could not like this
woop woop
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ooouucchh…..it’s very intime n romantic!!!
Great!!! im addicted!!
iam in love with this movie because this movie is so like romantic for me i cry at the end of the end………… this movie is ment to be
Thanks a lot for this post
Omg he’s soo hot
would TOTALLY marry him
<333
what the hell
they die
I LOVE ROMEO+JULIT I HATE THAT ROMEO AND JULIT ARE ENAMES BECUSE IF I LIKE ALEXANDER DAVIES AND WE WHER ENAMES THAT MAKE ME SAD AND ILL DIE AT THE END BY SHOTTING MY SELF ON THE HEAD
PLUS IM GITTENG THE BOOK ROME AND JULIT DID YOU KNOW ROMEO IS IN THE TANTANIC THAT HOT I MERRY ROMEO BYE
If u guys want essay help, check out Romeo and Juliet at the Shmoop website.
i love this film but at the end it makes me cry and romeo is so u know fit
I *love* both the play and this film.
Teachers who show their students Luhrmann’s film should explain to them what Elizabethan theater was like: in the year 1600 audiences were more archaic, natural and wild than we are today. They weren’t silent or discreet, but spent the time in theaters flirting and drinking (the way we would do in a football stadium nowadays). That’s why Shakespeare entertained them the loud way – not just with the pure text we find in his books. That’s why Luhrmann made it such a loud and lush film (and a truly unforgettable one for more than one reason!).
People who’ve watched this film and still don’t understand why Romeo + Juliet is the world’s most famous love story will never understand it, I suppose.
i love the move it mad me cry at the end but whatever i jash over it
i have never seen the movie and realy want too
leonardo is sooo phitt 
dose anyone know a site were i could dounload the movie if so plz tell me
chaaaaaa s teible d wuenaaaaa la peli l dicaprio supr rico
I watched this fantastic movie while I was in high school and it was so awesome..I would like to have a repeat of this film one of this fine days
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Whoo d movie was really intresting i love d cast fantatic
It is really good film . Meaning and feature …:D
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It was an horrible film, it suck!!!!!!! I tough it was a porn movie… It gave me a boner! <3 motherfuckers!!!! love you all <33
This movie is soooo great! and the play is even better. it is the theme for my quinceanera/ sweet sixteen. (bringing together two cultures
) i can’t wait!!!!
And to kurt. (above me) please learn correct English before you start criticizing things. Love you!!! <3
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i love this story it reminds me of my past when i became a ghost.
i love this story it reminds me when i became a ghost.
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