ROMEO & JULIET FILM REVIEW
... addition to this, the streets of Verona are repeatedly replaced by the beach, and so is Friar Lawrence´s cell by his own chapel. It is usual to find that a single scene of the play occurs in a single space location, when in the film, it is possible to see more than one location per scene, as seen in the first scene of the film which includes a street of Verona replaced by a road, a gas station, a police station and then, the beach. From these changes produced in the setting, the film is given a faster pace in order to avoid any trace of redundancy, which is usually a general tendency of most modernized films. When dealing with the characters of the film, it is appropriate to consider that in Shakespeare’s play, neither the Capulets nor the Montagues are seen as good or bad characters. On the contrary, Baz Luhrman shows Lady and Lord Montague as more peaceful than the furious Lord Capulet and his superficial and unfaithful wife. The Montagues joke around and have fun, and their outfits comprise of vibrant and brightly-coloured clothes. On the contrary, the Capulets are serious and aggressive, appearing in dark clothes. Apart from this, Romeo in the film seems to take his feelings to the limit, and Juliet appears to be more than just fourteen years old. Tybalt is still the rebellious and unforgiving character whose behaviour provokes the tragic ending. However, in Baz Luhrman´s version, Tybalt regrets killing Mercutio, and this is the reason why he does not let himself kill Romeo or even defend himself from Romeo’s shots. The most noticeable change in character though, is Paris; from being the young courteous gentleman of the original play, he turns into an immature millionaire in the film. On the text and content itself, there is no significant change but much elimination, intended to agree with the fast pace of the film. Act V is the most striking example of this, since only one fourth of the text is maintained by Baz Luhrman. By shortening the original text, this particular scene has been changed, eliminating all characters except Romeo and Juliet, who, in this film, are actually allowed to see and kiss each other. In Act V of the film, Romeo takes the poison, and then Juliet awakens, seeing Romeo slowly dying, while in Shakespeare’s work, Juliet finds her husband already dead. Apart from these changes, some passages or sentences are disarranged, as in the case of Act V, scene iii, when Romeo says, “thy drugs are quick”, referring to the apothecary’s poison. In the film, this sentence...