Anonymous

The term "Anonymous" is typically related to the hackers that go up against the corporations and the government.  However, Roland Emmerich. uses the term as the title of his film about who really wrote the plays we attribute to William Shakespeare.  This film challenges the conventional history that the Bard of Avon was no more than an actor who played a part in this grand conspiracy.  If you saw the trailers in theaters, but blinked and the film was in and out of theaters in two months, don't feel bad.  For whatever reason, Sony/Columbia studios only released this film in only 533 theaters and only made about 10 million dollars with 70% of that revenue coming from foreign ticket sales.  I don't know if it is the subject that perhaps the studio thought was too daunting for the audience, however, it doesn't seem like they gave it the support that I think the film deserved.  Is the film controversial,  yes it is if you believe everything you were taught in school. Are the Oxfordian's right? Who knows/

Since the mid-1800s, a controversy about the authorship of Shakespeare's plays has been debated back and forth. "Anonymous" is the culmination of that debate that tries to reconcile those theories by offering what, by some, is the most plausible, and the most probable author. Disaster director Roland Emmerich ("The Day After Tomorrow," "2012"), along with writer John Orloff ("Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole") put together a film, not so much about William Shakespeare himself, but about the political intrigue within the court of Queen Elizabeth I played by mother and daughter team of Joley Richards and Vanessa Redgrave. As a period piece, Emmerich does a great job of bringing us this story in such a way that not only is easy to understand, but in many ways captivating. Although not a true story in a historical context, Orloff's script does provides a reasonable doubt about who wrote Shakespeare's plays. Read more about the film "Anonymous"

Movie Data

Genre: Drama, History, Thriller 

Year:  2011

Staring: Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, Sebastian Armesto, Rafe Spall, David Thewlis

Director: Roland Emmerich

Producer(s): Roland Emmerich, Robert Leger 

Writer: John Orloff

Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 130 minutes
Release Date: 10/28/2011