Looks like SABC 3 is having a Shakespeare month and screening quite a few movies of the great bard's plays. This is the only one I have watched so far (while I was still in Durban). I later read up in a Shapespeare Companion book at Exclusive Books that Titus Andronicus is his bloodiest play, his first tragedy and is one of the least performed plays because of some of its content.
In many ways, this is a very a weird adaptation of William Shakespeare's Roman tragedy, Titus Andronicus. Unlike Romeo+Juliet, it's not completely modern and features horses and swords alongside motorbikes and loudspeakers. In many ways, the movie environment is similar to post apocalyptic worlds like Mad Max.
The play itself is twisted - featuring a sadistic woman hell bent on getting revenge, an equally savage general (Titus Andronicus played by Anthony Hopkins), cannibalism and some really twisted torture - all wrapped in a very interesting story. It's unlike any other Shakespeare play I have ever seen (or read) and features very little in terms of a morality tales of good overcoming evil and is almost hellbent on focusing on the power plays between characters who can be called twisted at best. Very enjoyable - if only because I enjoy such twisted tales - the bard really knew how to spin a tale.
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