In 1969 Roman Polanski's wife Sharon Tate and their unborn child were senselessly murdered by members of the Manson "family". Polanski was obviously distraught and angry, he used these feelings to fuel his next project which was a bloody and somber version of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Polanski's version of this Shakespeare classic is like no other. First of all we see more of Macbeth's view of the world than in previous versions. In the film he is not a tragic character at all and is presented as despicably as any character in cinema history.
The violence in the film is at times quite jarring and you really get a feeling of how Polanski was feeling during the filmmaking process. The most shocking and hard hitting sequence is the sacking of Macduffs home, something that had to have felt a little to close to home for Polanski.
The color palate of the film is gray and dirty with heavy sequences of fog. At times you are thirsty for blood just to see some color on the screen.
Macbeth is an interesting film to watch and study for a wide variety of reasons. It is an insightful and artistic view into the minds of one of the most controversial filmmakers of all time going through the toughest time of his life.
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