From the opening sequence of Aneil Karia‘s Hamlet it’s evident that the Shakespeare tale we know won’t be simply rehashed on screen. This isn’t your school production or even Broadway, with Karia maintaining the classic tongue of the prose, but bringing its setting to modern day London within the South Asian community.
Following the moment where Hamlet (Riz Ahmed, absolutely phenomenal) returns home and cleanses his father’s body whilst a Hindu Priest incants the Bhagavad Gita to watching the remains go up in flames, he’s stunned to learn that his uncle, Claudius (Art Malik), is set to marry off his widowed mother, Gertrude (Sheeba Chaddha). With his father’s cremation still lingering, Hamlet is understandably taken aback at such an action, and he confides in his childhood friend, Ophelia (Morfydd Clark).
Learning from the ghost of his father that his death was far from natural and that it was Claudius who orchestrated his murder, Hamlet soon becomes overcome with vengeance, leading him to question both his family’s morality and his own sanity. Whilst Michael Lesslie‘s script follows much of Shakespeare’s navigation, the utter captivation experienced through Ahmed’s performance transforms any of its narrative familiarity; his “To be or not to be…” monologue, performed as he speeds with his hands hovering over the steering wheel, further speaking to this temperament.
Ahmed’s performance – without overselling it – is the type that awards season feel made for. But the strength of the film, which it must be said won’t be for everyone (it’s equally modern in how it looks at corporate greed and the individuality of grief, as it is in its delivery classicality), is that he’s so well supported. Chaddha is enrapturing as a mother whose love for her son knows no bounds, Malik and Timothy Spall (as Polonius) are sublime as two men believing their villainy is justified, whilst Clark and Joe Alwyn (as Ophelia’s brother, Laertes) offset with their sense of emotion, torn between their loyalty to Hamlet and to their father when Hamlet’s madness consumes him.
With how intense the film can be – it truly is unrelenting at times – even audiences versed in the original and open to its original way of line delivery may not be susceptible to such viscerality. But that seems to be the point of Hamlet‘s projection, that grief is suffocating, and Shakespeare’s tale is grief incarnate. Ultimately, with it being showcased through the lens of a predominantly non-white cast, even if one doesn’t necessarily respond to how Karia and Ahmed tell the story (this being a passion project for the actor), the power of its story is difficult to dismiss.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Hamlet is screening as part of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, running between September 4th and 14th, 2025. For more information on the festival, head to the official site here.
