The best Hamlet-inspired movie this year is not the one you’re expecting

Four centuries after Shakespeare first wrote Hamlet, Riz Ahmed has proven the tale’s enduring appeal.

At one point or another, the vast majority of British actors will find themselves uttering one of the most famed lines in Western literature: ‘To be or not to be’.

For Oscar-winning star Riz, he’s careening down a London road, staring death in the form of a barrelling lorry when he delivers this tortured line in this fiery, fast-paced take on this oft-adapted tragedy.

By now, we’ve seen it all when it comes to Shakespeare adaptations, from the rigidly faithful performances on the West End stage to the one-man shows to the loosely based coming-of-age hits, and everything in between.

This latest Hamlet – directed by Aneil Karia – delivers an admirable attempt to bring something new to the overpopulated genre by setting it in the Sikh community in modern-day London, while still preserving the original text (albeit an abridged version).

The Long Goodbye star plays our titular tragic hero, the son of a wealthy property magnate who is driven mad after his father’s death and whose rapid unravelling soon turns deadly.

The ghost of Hamlet’s father delivers his famed speech – in which he reveals he was poisoned by Hamlet’s Uncle Claudius (Art Malik), who has since taken over and married his mother – in his mother tongue.

The added rich layer of subcontinent culture to this Shakespearean monologue makes for a surprisingly moving fusion.

Joe Alwyn, Morfydd Clark and Timothy Spall play our Laertes, Ophelia and Polonius, and there is a frenetic energy shared between the whole cast that buzzes off the screen and pushes our narrative forward.

One of the highlights of this adaptation is the midpoint climax at Claudius’ and Gertrude’s wedding, where the story of the poisoning is played out in a traditional performance that leaves your heart pounding.

The scene creates a crescendoing tension that completely devours you, pulling you into the wedding hall right alongside a stricken Claudius and Gertrude.

There’s no denying how pervasive the tale of Hamlet remains in popular culture, on every level. This year alone, there has been rising anticipation for Chloe Zhao’s adaptation of Hamnet – a story about the real-life tragedy that inspired the play.

And one that also, coincidentally, stars Alwyn as a concerned brother.

Even Taylor Swift’s single, The Fate of Ophelia, in her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, has once more sparked discourse about the unfolding of Ophelia’s madness that drove her to drowning and its links to patriarchy.

In a climate of tough competition, there’s no doubt that Riz’s performance holds its own and is an unexpected frontrunner.

The actor maintains a ferocious energy throughout, wracked with grief and driven by bloodlust, he makes the role his own in this culturally specific meditation on mental health, family and the dissonance of loss.

Given its largely faithful dialogue, where this adaptation stumbles is fully translating the high-stakes context of 17th-century royalty to a contemporary family.

At times, Hamlet’s motivations are lost, and the use of royal language like ‘King’ and ‘Lord’ seems jarring when paired with the aesthetic of dirty London roads and construction sites.

The spiral into revenge-fuelled carnage leans perhaps too heavily on solely Hamlet’s twisted mental state, making the escalation into murder after murder more tenuous.

And, for those not entirely familiar with the tale, I can imagine it is a difficult narrative to follow, given the creative liberties this adaptation takes.

But, if you are able to suspend your belief and indulge in how this particular iteration unfolds, then there’s plenty to applaud about this experimental feature.

There may be those who beg the question – was there a need for this adaptation?

I would argue that, in a sea of rinse and repeat Hamlets often told from the same Western-centric lens, this offers a desperately needed breath of fresh air, even if it is not perfect.

Hamlet premieres at the BFI London Film Festival. There is currently no UK release date.

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