Analysis of one Work

The film Much Ado About Nothing was in the theathers in 1993, which was an adaptation of a Shakespeare play. It begins when Don Pedro, Don John, Claudio, and Benedick return safe from the war. Claudio falls in love with Hero, and they were going to get married but somebody tricks them and they made Claudio believe that Hero is cheating. At the wedding Claudio tells everybody that she is a cheater, based on what the other people told him and he though that he saw Hero cheating. At the end people made Claudio believe that Hero was dead because of what he said, but she appeared and they got married. All of this began with a rumor, and then it turned into a big lie and people got hurt by this. Lies can destroy people because they made Claudio believe that Hero was dead. But some lies can help people, with a lie they made Bennedick and Beatrice confess their love to each other. The truth comes out and everybody is happy. "A lot of fun Branagh does excellent bringing Shakespeare's comedy to life" (Sandell). This is a good movie that represents a play from Shakespeare.

Sandell, Alex. "Much Ado About Nothing". Rottentomatoes. 24 April 2010. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1045992-much_ado_about_nothing/

Summary of Major Works

Kenneth Branagh worked on many films, one of the Shakespeare films that he worked on was Much Ado About Nothing. "Which faund favor with audiences and critics alike" (Answers.com). In this film everybody lies, one person tries to trick them into doing things to make the other person believe so they can break the weeding. "In the end, though, it all turns out to be 'much ado about nothing'" (Esser). Also they help a couple to confess their love for each other, all this began with a lie. Another Shakespeare film that Branagh worked on is Henry V, where young King Henry goes to war with France, "Henry's small but embattled army meet the french forces on the field of Agincourt" (Loh). Another film that Branagh worked on was Frankenstein, it was inspired by the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Victor Frankenstein goes to study to a university after his mother dies, "becomes obsessed with bringing the dead back to life" (McElwaine). He creates a creature and then he abandons it, after this the monster wants revenge because Victor abandoned him.


"Kenneth Branagh". Answers.com. 1 April 2010. http://www.answers.com/topic/kenneth-branagh

Esser, Liza. "Much Ado About Nothing". The Internet Movie Database. 16 April 2010. http://www.imbd.com/title/tt0107616/plotsummary

Loh, Keith. "Henry V" The Internet Movie Database. 16 April 2010. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097499/plotsummary

McElwaine. "Frankenstein". The Internet Movie Database. 16 April 2010. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109836/plotsummary

Major Themes, Influences, and Artistic Style

When Kenneth Branagh saw the play Hamlet on stage, he got inspired and began acting. "Branagh is the best-known Shakespeare interpreter of the late 20th Century" (Aol Television). He Joined the RSC, there he worked on Henry V, and Romeo and Juliet. "In 1993, he brought Shakespeare to mainstream audiences again with his hit adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing" (Internet Movie Database). He stopped working on Shakespeare Movies for a while. He worked on the film Dead Again, where he both acted and directed. "Just as with his Shakesperian work, he was dealing with the very grandest themes - passion, murder, reincarnation" (TalkTalk P.5). His film Frankenstein was about Mary Shelley's novel, where he directed and also he acted as Victor Frankenstein.

"Biography for Kenneth Branagh" The Internet Movie Database. 7 April 2010. http://www.imbd.com/name/nm0000110/bio

"Kenneth Branagh Biography" Aol Television. 8 April 2010. http://television.aol.com/celebs/kenneth-branagh/1203677/biography

"Kenneth Branagh - Biography" TalkTalk. 7 April 2010. http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/biography/artist/kenneth-branagh/biography/71?page=5

Career

Kenneth Branagh's career started when he went to study at RADA. While he was at RADA, he acted in two TV Shows, To Late to Talk to Billy, and Maybury. When he graduated from RADA, he won the school's Bancroft Award specially for his performance in the Hamlet production. After he graduated, he participated in the production of Another Country in the West End Stage, this play made him more successful and he won the Most Promising Newcomer Award by Society of West End Theatres. Later he turned down an offer at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) to make his own production, The Madness. But the RSC wanted him, they made him another offer, they gave him the opportunity to make history and when he was 23 he was the youngest RSC actor ever to be in Henry V. After he worked at the RSC, in 1987 he quit and with his colleague David Parfitt created the Renaissance Theatre Company. The first work they did was the production of Public Enemy. In 1989 Henry V came out, and Branagh was nominated for an Oscar as actor and director of Henry V. Also when Hamlet came out in 1996 he got nominated for an Oscar for his Screenplay.


"Kenneth Branagh" Answers.com. 1 April 2010. http://www.answers.com/topic/kenneth-branagh

"Kenneth Branagh - Biography" TalkTalk. 15 March 2010. http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/biography/artist/kenneth-branagh/biography/71?page=2

"Kenneth Branagh - Biography" TalkTalk. 15 March 2010. http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/biography/artist/kenneth-branagh/biography/71?page=3

Childhood and later life

Kenneth Branagh was born on December 10, 1960, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was the second child of three children, he came from a poor family. His family moved to England when he was 10 years old, at that age he began to like Shakespeare. He began to read Shakespeare plays as an escape from bullies. After he saw the play Hamlet at the age of 15, he liked acting. After that play he began acting in school productions. His teacher told him to consider acting as his profession. When he was 18, he had to make a choice between the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the Central School of Speech and Drama, he went to RADA, where he received the Bancroft Gold medal for being the student of the year. At the age of 23, Branagh joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was the youngest in the "Henry V". The first time he worked with Emma Thompson was in "Fortune of War", in 1987, who he later married on August 1989, but in October 1995, Branagh and Thompson announced they were getting a divorce. Later in 2001, he meet Lindsay Brunnock, his current wife, which he married on May 2003.

"Kenneth Branagh" Yahoo Movies. 15 March 2010. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800019957/bio

"Kenneth Branagh - Biography" TalkTalk. 15 March 2010. http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/biography/artist/kenneth-branagh/biography/71?page=2.