The merchant of Venice is one of the well-known plays of William Shakespeare. The 2004 movie performed by Jeremy Iron and Robert De Niro brought into life this famous play, showing Shakespeare point of view about love and friendship. In Venice, Antonio signed a contract to help his friend Bassanio to get a loan from Shylock in order to go and marry her love Portia. This love story became a tragedy when Shylock, the one who lend the money, demands Antonio to pay back with a pound of flesh his incomplete contract.
Bassanio asked Antonio for money because Portia, his love, is a rich heiress which has her destiny signed by a promise done to her father: she is going to get married with the one who can discover in which of the three caskets –gold, silver and lead- is her portrait. All these caskets have an inscription note which tells the value of each casket to the man who is willing to take a chance and open one of them. “Man and woman are two locked caskets, of which each contains the key to the other”
Firstly in trying to open one was the prince of Morocco. This character seems to be a valiant and secure man who is willing to try this lottery in which Portia is into. His decision was based on the idea that he deserves to be with the rich heiress, so he chose the golden casket which is not the one. Secondly, the Prince of Aragon comes to choose a casket. This character is performed as a selfish man who believes he is better than the rest to deserve Portia. He chose the silver casket which was not the one. With this scene the audience discovers that the leaden casket is the right one. Finally, Bassanio, confident of his fortune, goes and takes his turn in choosing the casket. The uncertainty of this situation makes Portia doubt about his fortune. However, at the moement he arrived to Belmont, he asked her to trust and lead him to the caskets. Looking at all of them, Bassanio trusts in his true love and chooses the leaden casket, the one which has Portia’s picture and the one which allow him to marry her.
This part of the story is well developed along with the perfect images from Venice and the situations that were happening there: Shylock loosing his daughter and with her, his mind becoming his goal the pound of flesh from Antonio as revenge. You will be impressed by the performance of these two actors mention at the beginning: both of them acquire the right mood for their characters and the performance needed to understand what happens at the end of the film.
The climax of the movie occurs in the trial. All the characters take part of it, each one of them defending Antonio’s life and trying to help Shylock see what was wrong about his decision. Justice is been done by people, so we have to start for being fair to our souls and our hearts. What happens in those scenes, you ask spectators need to judge. The only thing that I can provide you with is telling you how well this movie is done and how the argument is close to the book.
This movie is a love story, but not only a couple in love. It is about romantic love, family love, love for your beliefs and the place you live. It is a two-hour movie which shows the true play written by Shakespeare, along with the good performances directed by Michael Radford.
