‘Hamlet’: Riz Ahmed Embodies the Intensity and Pathos of Shakespeare’s Greatest Tragedy

Alci Rengifo

Among the great works of William Shakespeare, “Hamlet” retains a particular power that allows it to truly be adaptable anywhere in the world. Revenge, treachery, the frail bonds of family and the universal tragedies we can cause knows no borders. At the same time, so many adaptations have been made of the Bard’s most famous work that it would be easy to question why we need yet another one. Director Aneil Karia’s “Hamlet” again confirms the lasting endurance of the play as a story that never grows tired. A good Shakespeare production can also be the ultimate display of an actor’s abilities and as the title character, Riz Ahmed delivers here some of his best work in a South Asian take on the play. Not only does he master the music of the language he has a presence that makes the material his own.

Ahmed’s Hamlet is not a prince of Denmark but the heir to the “Elsinore” real estate company in London. We first see him watching over the body of his deceased father (Avijit Dutt) before learning the news that his mother Gertrude (Sheeba Chaddha) is marrying his father’s brother, Claudius (Art Malik). While out trying to clear his mind in the London club scene, Hamlet is confronted on a rooftop by the ghost of his father, who makes it clear that he was murdered by Claudius. Hamlet is now driven by rage to expose the guilty, even if it means risking public embarrassment. He grows colder towards his former girlfriend, Ophelia (Morfydd Clark) to the concern of her father, Polonius (Timothy Spall) and brother Laertes (Joe Alwyn). The wronged son’s first major gamble will be to stage a performance for the conspiring couple’s wedding celebration which will frame for everyone the truth of their most foul deed.

This “Hamlet” is another impressive delivery for Ahmed, who has been proving himself an important actor channeling his Pakistani-British identity into vital material. Recently, he also starred in “Bait,” the excellent Amazon comedy imagining a brown actor in the running to play James Bond. He approaches Shakespeare’s work as a celebration of the text and culture. Corporate, modernist takes on this play have been done before, as in the hypnotic 2000 version starring Ethan Hawke set in late ‘90s Manhattan. As in that film, Aneil Kara and screenwriter Michael Lesslie let the language dominate the style. While the cinematography by Stuart Bentley has an almost neon grit reminiscent of Michael Mann, the film never becomes an over-stylized attempt to make Shakespeare “exciting.” The text itself is intelligently streamlined, resulting in a tight 113 minutes. Anyone who wants the entire, unedited text can revisit Kenneth Branagh’s ravishing 4-hour “Hamlet” from 1996.

Classic material lends itself to various angles and the one the artists find here is focusing on the sheer tragedy of betrayal and the blinding drive for revenge. Ahmed’s Hamlet is a man driven by powerful inner voices threatening him to lose all sense of rationality. The famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy is delivered here during a maddened drive down the wrong side of the street, as Hamlet argues with himself over what course to take. Ophelia’s part is cut down but potently played by Morfydd Clark as the woman who clearly feels for Hamlet but is powerless to do anything except stand by and watch helplessly. Ophelia’s mad scene is cut, which might not be the greatest choice, yet lets her wither away as another soul pushed aside by Hamlet’s growing fury. What is evoked is a cutthroat world of elites willing to do whatever it takes to secure what they want. Art Malik is a brilliant Claudius, speaking with the rich-voiced calmness of a self-assured power player. 

Culturally, “Hamlet” plays as a fantastic drama set within London’s South Asian community. The film’s most memorable scene is the dramatic performance in front of Claudius and Gertrude, preceded by Ahmed letting loose as a maddened Hamlet prancing around party guests in a Pakistani veil. The dance troupe he instructs on what to perform then emerges in a stunning, visceral performance acting out the murder of Hamlet’s father with visual flourishes that are unforgettable. Scenes like this capture so well why Shakespeare transcends time and borders. Power breeds murder and lies anywhere. You could stage this play in the world of politics just as much as in any corporate boardroom. 

The true standout is Ahmed’s performance, which avoids making Hamlet into an automatic hero or worthy of our sympathy. The material is restructured in a way where we are challenged along with everyone else around him. Could this Hamlet simply be going mad from both sorrow and greed? Like Hawke’s own Hamlet, there’s a hint of the privileged man falling apart over events out of his control. The atmospheric music by Maxwell Sterling never overtakes the language. When it comes to the work of the Bard, the words are what truly matter. Ahmed gives them fresh life in all their paranoid, wrenching force. 

“Hamlet” releases April 10 in select theaters.