Zefirelli And Branagh's Hamlet Film Analysis

The way in which Zefirelli and Branagh’s Hamlet film adaptations display the ghost of Hamlet’s father differ significantly. In Zefirelli’s film, the ghost is first shown sitting alongside the quiet castle walls while seemingly tired and tormented, which gives the audience the impression of weakness and pain. As the ghost speaks, the helplessness of his words is evident by his glum and drained tone. The ghost speaks to Hamlet, played by Mel Gibson, in a hauntingly calm and emotional voice that seems to emit a sense of suffering. Zeffirelli gives the audience an opportunity to sympathize with and understand Hamlet by the use of camera movement. The camera close-ups constantly switch between the ghost and Hamlet as the ghost speaks in order to display the helplessness of the ghost as well as Hamlet’s emotional expressions. These close-ups are also shown at a point of view angle, which displays what each character is

Zeffirelli sets the scene in the castle’s burial tomb, which creates a sulky and remote atmosphere that displays Hamlet’s questioning of death. Hamlet choosing to separate and detach himself by going down to the tombs subsequently gives off the impression of seclusion since he is surrounded by nothing but death. Throughout this scene, Hamlet’s loneliness is clearly evident by how he seems to be looking towards the dead for answers. By the use of lighting and shot angles, Hamlet is almost always the centre focus of the scene. Even as the camera captures glances of graves using long shots, the focus is still on Hamlet. Overall, the setting seems to be completely still as Hamlet speaks, thus creating tension that is emphasized by the lack of background noise as Hamlet speaks. This causes the audience to grasp every word he says and hang on to it. By successfully provoking powerful reactions, Zeffirelli’s scene captures the audience’s