We saw "O" yesterday, a

We saw "O" yesterday, a modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello. Although, as you would expect from the classic story, it is a bit of a downer, I liked it very much. "O" takes place in a southern elite highschool and Oden (Othello) is the star basketball player on the high schools team. The parallels between war and highschool sports work very well (although both are really just the setting for the main character's leadership and popularity and for Iago/Hugo's jealousy) and the plot stuck closely to Shakespeare's storyline.

There weren't many people in the theater watching this movie and the majority were "older" people (twenties and up) and not the teen audience that I imagine the movie was intended for. That's a pity, because this is a very good and accessible introduction to one of the better known plays and, since it uses contemporary language, I would imagine that highschoolers should appreciate the movie.

BTW, I have read Othello, but have never seen it on stage. I've seen the 1995 movie Othello with Laurence Fishburne as Othello and Kenneth Branagh as Iago, and I've seen Verdi's Otello opera. Of these, I think "O" comes the closest to the true thing.