Der Sturm – The Tempest (1979)

Der Sturm – The Tempest: Directed by Derek Jarman. With Peter Bull, David Meyer, Neil Cunningham, Heathcote Williams. Banished to a forsaken island, the Right Duke of Milan and Sorcerer Prospero gets the chance to take his revenge on the King of Naples with the assistance of his airy spirit-servant, Ariel.

“Iu0026#39;m amazed that of all the reviews Iu0026#39;ve looked at nobody seems to have noticed one of the main points of this film, or at least how I saw it. It seems like one big homosexual fantasy, camp clothing, a glorified nude Ferdinand, a definite sexual tension between Ariel and Prospero, and as a final climax, a group of men in tight sailor suits dancing the hornpipe. This whole approach, once you get used to it, provides you with all sorts of fantastic scenes and images. The sight of an innocent Ariel being pulled towards a disgusting nude Sycorax in order to perform u0026quot;her earthy and abhorru0026#39;d commandsu0026quot;, is one of the darkest Iu0026#39;ve ever scene in a Shakespeare film. However by the end of the film Iu0026#39;d grown tired of the style and the final hornpipe dance was just too much to take. Still overall its an interesting interpretation of the play.”