Anonymous

Since birth, we've been groomed to believe in certain fallacies. For instance, we believe that every December a fat bearded man repels down a chimney to deliver presents under a tree. We think that a midget lady with wings runs a black market of our teeth for cash. We also think that a rabbit, a rabid animal by most standards, can logically hide eggs during Easter from children. We have been raised to believe such things with a grain of salt. But what happens when we are tricked into believing something that seems fairly sturdy. What if Pearl Harbor was no sneak attack by the Japanese, but just the beginning of Sony? How would we react if we found out the Watergate scandal was just the Chinese trying to embarrass Nixon? Or what if Monica Lewinsky was actually Hillary in a wig and she just had some image to uphold? Everything would be thrown into a total mind fuck. Well, the credibility of Shakespeare as the actual author of the plays and sonnets by the aforementioned has come into question. Anonymous deals with the very real possibility that Shakespeare didn't write anything and our entire grammar school English career was spent reading some alcoholic's blackmail.

It is the 16th or 17th century (I can never figure the difference between the two) and there is turmoil in England. Protestants are beating the shit out of Catholics and everyone wants a shot at the Crown. Elizabeth (Vanessa Redgrave) is in power and is searching for an heir apparent. The Cecils (David Thewlis and Edward Hogg), Elizabeth's advisors, try desperately to get a successor that is not Robert, Earl of Essex (Sam Reid). During this political intrigue, one courtier, Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford (Rhys Ifans), makes a secret deal with playwright Ben Jonson (Sebastian Armesto). He will give Jonson his collected works to produce as long as they are performed under total anonymity of the author-de Vere. Turns out these works are Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, and every other play that we have associated with Shakespeare. This shows that it is not Shakespeare who is the true playwright, but actually de Vere. de Vere is only halted from producing them himself because it is out of place for a courtier to do this. Shakespeare (Rafe Spall), an alcoholic, illiterate, and perverted actor, ends up attaching his name to the works after Jonson declines the author.

Edward de Vere is one of the alternative author candidates because of the numerous similarities between his real life and the works that Shakespeare supposedly created. For more information follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxfordian_theory_of_Shakespeare_authorship

I was speechless during this movie. Not only is it motivated by historic events, but it actually manages to consider the question of Shakespeare's legitimacy. Actually, Shakespeare takes a backseat in this film and de Vere heads the cast. Ifans displays de Vere as a tortured artist, a man chained up by the standards of his society. He cares deeply for those around him and those who are loyal, and in this sense he is very altruistic. he only cares for art and keeping the world entertained despite the world's attempts to block him. As a history lesson, Anonymous does a great job depicting the tensions between religious factions and social classes in old London. And in a swoop of remediation, Anonymous brings back to life the magic the old fashioned stageplay. Performances inspired and rallied the audience to action. This was truly a time of awe.

Think back to ninth grade English class and reading The Merchant of Venice. Shylock is being verbally berated cause he is Jewish. Antonio is getting sympathy he doesn't deserve. Your classmate is poking holes in his paper out of boredom. You begin imagining a scenario in which Shylock comes back to Venice and machine guns all the assholes who screwed him over. And then you might think, "Wow, this jerk Shakespeare was a fraud. I'm reading a play whose author isn't even clarified!" It's just like finding out that Ipads and Ipod touches are the same thing, there's nothing special about either of them at all. Sorry.