Anonymous

Movie: Anonymous

Genre: historical drama

Synopsis: This movie takes place in the late 1500’s.  It proposes that the works attributed to William Shakespeare were in fact written by Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford (Rhys Ifans  The movie covers, via flashbacks) the Earl’s childhood and his obsession with writing.  We get a taste of the incredibly complex political maneuvering that went on in the court of Queen Elizabeth I.  The infighting and manipulations that went into determining who succeeded Queen Elizabeth makes today’s politicians look like a bunch of boy scouts.

My two cents: From what I have seen in a brief internet search, the Earl of Oxford really is probably the leading candidates for the works attributed to William Shakespeare.  I found this movie to be absolutely fascinating and riveting. My biggest problem was keeping the various characters straight as the movie jumped back and forth over a 20 year period.  It was interesting to see how playwrights were looked down upon in those days.  Definitely a movie worth seeing.

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