Theater spectators have a good chance of being much more familiar with what they see on screen in the 1987 film by Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki 'Hamlet Goes Business' (the original Finnish title is 'Hamlet liikemaailmassa'). Shakespeare's text is processed and reinterpreted, the historical context and the props that define it (sets, costumes) are changed, and the result reflects much more the view about the world and art of the director than of the Bard. It is precisely the art of film that has been more 'faithful' and more conventional in approaching Shakespeare's text, and especially 'Hamlet', perhaps his most famous play. Kaurismäki's version has nothing to do with those in which Laurence Olivier, Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, or Kenneth Branagh appeared. Although much of the dialogue is taken quite faithfully from Shakespeare, 'Hamlet Goes Business' is something else entirely - a 'film noir' with hints of absurd comedy, set in Finland in the second half of the 20th century.
In Aki Kaurismäki's version, the Kingdom of Denmark is a big Finnish factory (today we would call it a corporation, but the film was made before the Nokia era) that is run by the Hamlet dynasty, and is in danger of being taken over by a Swedish concern interested in in producing there ... rubber ducklings. The dramatic structure of the play is preserved, the hero's father is assassinated, his uncle and mother get married after a short time and plan to take over the kingdom ... sorry, the factory. The ghost appears, and the young heir Hamlet, until then more concerned with bringing the attractive Ophelia to bed, begins to plan revenge. Spectators will recognize many of the plays' lines, a theatrical performance will also appear, although the famous 'To be or not to be' is missing. This Hamlet has no philosophical pretensions but retains some of the ambiguity of the character.
The cinematography gives this film a special quality. Kaurismäki and cinematographer Timo Salminen use black and white but also specific 'film noir' angles as well as cinematic props from Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock's sets of tools. The actor who playes Hamlet, Pirkka-Pekka Petelius reminds the young Welles, while Kati Outinen's Ophelia seems to be borrowed from Ingmar Bergman's films. Music and other elements of pop culture combined with the style of gangster story present an original combination, which predates by almost a decade the first films of this genre made by Tarantino and the Coen brothers. With this 1987 film, Kaurismäki started to conquer the position of first-rate director of his generation, and created a version of 'Hamlet' that is like no other.
