My Favorite Movie

My favorite movie is “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” starring Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, and Richard Dreyfuss. The story re-tells “Hamlet” through the eyes of two minor characters who were childhood friends of Hamlet. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are summoned to court after the death of the king in an attempt to comfort Hamlet and to discover the “source of his distemper.”

It must have been quite some time since Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been to court as the King and Queen have trouble remembering who is who and the crux of the entire film is that the men themselves do not know, either. The earliest memory they have is of a messenger banging on their shutters and calling their names to give them the royal summons. There is an over-arching theme to the whole movie that they do not really exist but are merely characters in a play.

Richard Dreyfuss’s character is the leader of a troop of traveling thespians. They are also visiting the court and Hamlet uses them to draw out his uncle's guilt. The thespians are portrayed as outside observers who have “seen” this play before and know how it ends.

My favorite scene of the film is when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern happen upon the castle's indoor tennis court. They launch into a game called “Question and Answer”. It is played like tennis with the same scoring but without the ball and rackets. They volley questions at each other and can only respond with questions. The use of a statement results in the other receiving a point and employing rhetoric is a foul.

The film ends as “Hamlet” ends – everyone dies.