Inflexible Man
Ralph
Fiennes' Coriolanus is a lively and intense adaptation of an
obscure Shakespeare play--especially obscure, considering this is the
first-ever attempt to deliver it to the big screen.
There's
probably a reason for the neglect--Caius Martius (dubbed 'Coriolanus'
after his conquest of the Volscian city of Corioles)--is an
unregenerate bastard, a highborn military career officer seeking
election to high office who looks down upon ordinary men, claiming
their breaths “reek o'th'rotten fens, whose loves I prize / As the
dead carcasses of unburied men / That do corrupt my air.” Asked to
display his battle scars to the public--a Roman tradition when
campaigning--he puts down the wounds as mere “Scratches with briers
/ Scars to move laughter only,” and declares
“I would not buy / Their mercy at the price of one fair word.”
