Equus | Richard Burton, Peter Firth

Equus | Richard Burton, Peter Firth | A WORK OF ART

DVDs:

Equus

	Equus Richard Burton, Peter Firth MGM (Video & DVD), 2003 average customer review:based on 45 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This Oscar®-nominated* adaptation of Peter Shaffer's Tony Award-winning play erupts on the screen with the same power and passion as the stage original. Richard Burton gives "one of his best performances ever" (Boxoffice) in this "elegant and provocative" (Newsweek) tale ofmyth and madness. What would drive Alan Strang (Peter Firth), a troubled adolescent stable boy, to blind six horses with a metal spike? Psychiatrist Martin Dysart (Burton) investigates these unspeakable acts and delves deep into Alan's psyche, confronting the mysteries of sexual passion and madnessas well as the dark demons buried within his own soul. *1977: Actor (Burton),Supporting Actor (Firth), Adapted Screenplay

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movie equus review

A well-directed arthouse style movie. It is disturbing but necessarily so...brilliant performance by Richard Burton!

A WORK OF ART

EQUUS is one of those plays you never forget after you see it. Although the theatrical version is matchless, this film adaptation succeeds in bringing into the widescreen the painful drama of these two characters who represent - in many aspects - the torments of modern society. Brilliantly interpreted by Burton & Firth, this is a theatrical adaptation not to be missed. Due to the brutal explicity of some sequences, it sounds understandable that a good number of viewers may feel shocked and tend to underrate the whole piece. I think this play - although written in 1973 - has a lot to say about us, about modern society, sexuality, religion and existential values. Give it a try and reflect upon it once you see it.

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"I Am Yours and You Are Mine."

A young man (Alan Strang played by Peter Firth) blinds a half dozen horses with a spike and sings as his response to queries when hauled in front of the magistrate. He must be nuts, the thinking goes, and suitable mental health is sought.

Richard Burton's character, Dr. Martin Dysart, doesn't just try to help his severely neutrotic and psychotic patients, he often leads them in a dysfunctional romp through the nethermind and disregards ordinary boundaries.

"Why me?" Dysart asks the referring professional when requested to involve himself with this particularly difficult, horse-maiming patient. She's already told him once, but he wants to hear it again, maybe in a new way. The answer is naturally because he's the best. He doesn't argue.

And so Dr. Dysart sluthes his way through the mind of young Alan, through his broken Stepford mum and embarrassed, muttering dad, and through the evidences of a life that not only has taken the road less travelled, but has gone crashing through the underbrush of a dark, sharp wood where no one else goes.

When Alan awakens from a nightmare to see Dysart standing above him, he wasn't the only one who wondered, WTF? In fact, Dysart's apparent conversion from general shrink to field forensic psychiatrist who just happens to be everywhere he needs to be was just a little odd. His obsession with the Strang case, however, became understandable.

Firth was excellent in this, the best part actually. I was afraid after the introduction that Burton's Dysart would be overwrought, but he settled into it well enough with occasional relapses into overacting. The complex repressed sexual themes were interesting and this film will probably appeal to fans of Burton and people interested in well-written tales of the mentally ill. I also appreciated the connection between Dysart's persistent and disturbing dreams in light of the work he did. I enjoyed this film, although it was a bit ponderous at times with Dysart's later various prolonged existential crises.

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Disturbing and terrifying

This movie lacks all imagination that could have been put into the production. There is just a lot of male nudity and gore, and eerie sexual tension between the boy and his horse.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

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