User reviews

Yes, this is a version of Othello and yes, that is Tony Curtis from Hollywood's golden age playing Iago. It would have been funnier is he was playing Othello, but you can't have it all I guess.

This is modern Othello, so now he's general Othello, a gun for hire in Africa who is working for the Red Cross when he claps eyes on Desdemona, an aid worker from the US. At first these two hate each other but soon it's romantic love montage time, all watched by the ever jealous, scheming, Iago. I've got to admit I felt like I was watching Tony Curtis, but it looked to me like Tony Curtis was channelling b-movie actor Cameron Mitchell!

Iago's speech is all modern and both he and Desdemona's father are dropping the 'N' word like this was written by Quentin Shakespeare, but if you're among the billions of people forced to read the play at school, you'll know how this one pans out anyway. It's one of Shakespeare's tragedies. For some reason Shakespeare wasn't in to warning his viewers by having a spoiler warning.

Things that drown out the dialogue all over this one include: A helicopter, explosions, the soundtrack (very loud Beethoven all the way through), and Tony Curtis strangely holding his hand over his mouth. That's what you'll end up watching this one for - Tony Curtis trying to be Iago in a b-movie with a seemingly one man crew. The worst part is that it dawns on you about halfway through that the film isn't bad enough to get some laughs and is kind of well made for a cheapy. There's even a bit of action thrown in for good measure.

Fernando Sancho appears as a President. He does not eat any chicken legs.

Scarcely has the film begun and one can already discern issues that will plague the entire length. Most immediate is that 'Black commando,' Max H. Boulois' 1982 reimagining of 'Othello,' is one of those movies with such poor lighting during scenes at night or in low light that we might as well just be looking at a blank screen. There's also no getting around the fact that the sound design is terribly imbalanced such that environmental sounds, wind noise, and other sound effects are grating on the ears, while dialogue is too often either muddied or almost entirely subsumed in the blasts of uneven volume. Even the music - the sweet sounds of Ludwig van - is emphasized a bit too much in the mix. Jacques-Clément Duval's sound editing and Antonio Gimeno's film editing are both decidedly curt and inelegant, giving the feeling that the feature as we're seeing it has been chopped up with precious seconds removed that would have offered smoother transitions and sequencing. Such deficiencies in the technical craft are flummoxing since, in many ways, it's clear that the picture was not wanting in terms of financing.

Set aside the editing, still there's a crude brusqueness to the plot development that's off-putting. This feeling could possibly be attributed at least in part simply to the endeavor in and of itself to adapt Bill Shakes, though I also gather a sense that Boulois as writer specifically strained to cohesively connect the threads in terms of advancing the narrative. With all this having been said, I certainly admire the effort to bring an early seventeenth-century play into the twentieth century. I will say that this updated version arguably brings the themes of race to the forefront more than Shakespeare's play, specifically for modern viewers; despite the unfortunately undying human trait of prejudice, it's difficult to get a grasp on the particular dynamics of several centuries ago. 'Black commando' also plays up Othello's background as a military man; for instance, the first twenty minutes are comprised of action sequences more than anything else before the plot truly kicks in. Moreover, for all the changes and simplification that Boulois applied in his screenplay, one can unmistakably recognize the classic of English literature underlying the plot here.

I do think this is enjoyable and worth watching on its own merits, not least of all if one is a particular fan of someone involved. Anyway, it can also be fun to see such esteemed pieces of cultural history modified in new and inventive ways. (Please see the BBC's exemplary 2010 version of 'Macbeth,' starring Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleetwood, as a prime example.) And yet there are still other ways in which this film is troubled, and worse than the technical shortcomings are those ways in which the story is shortchanged. Even a cursory reading of the original play communicates significant time spent accentuating Iago's enmity and scheming, not least through soliloquys; it feels like this rendition gives us mere glimpses. Inherent to the nature of adaptations, the more aspects of the writing are altered (scenes and the overall story especially), the more important it becomes to discretely establish who characters are. 'Black commando' too often fails to do so. And for all this, and further weakness in the dialogue and scene writing, the feature also altogether struggles to communicate its plot. If one didn't have the advantage of foreknowledge, the context of some understanding of Shakespeare's work, then there are wide swaths of this iteration (primarily, the series of steps taken to undercut Othello's confidence in Desdemona) that would come off as mystifying. And that's in addition to already being disjointed in light of (a) the editing and (b) the fundamental changes of adaptation.

It's unfortunate that 'Black commando' is beleaguered with so many issues. I appreciate the work put into this from the cast and crew, and as both writer and director I recognize the earnestness and general skill Boulois possesses. Some combination of factors, and/or maybe just an honest lack of utmost capability in one capacity or another, resulted in a cavalcade of faults that severely diminishes what this could have been. I repeat, I did have a good time watching, but this is at best okay; it might have been great. Ultimately this is hardly an essential watch, more of something to fleetingly entertain on a lazy day, or if curious. I see the value 'Black commando' has to offer; would that there were more of it.