Comparison Of Laurence Fishburne's Othello Vs. Nunn

Laurence Fishburne’s “Othello” the best portrayal of William Shakespeare’s Othello between Oliver Parker’s version and the one directed by Trevor Nunn. Even though, the movie departs from the original play, by cutting some dialogues, and adding new scenes, Parker’s view of “Othello” represents Shakespeare’s original play much better than Nunn’s by using the scenery. Oliver’s movie shows the streets of Venice and Cyprus in a way the play and Nunn’s production could not, having the characters interact with the environment to emphasize the feeling of Shakespeare’s words. It also showed new parts of the characters actions and personalities.
Parker’s accession of a chessboard in the movie is an allegory for Iago’s manipulation of those he encounters,
when the chessboard is shown Othello and Desdemona are the chess-pieces Iago is playing with whenever he appears to show his plan for them. Iago can predict their futures, since he controls their pieces’ motion, he knows what drives them and their steps beforehand and manipulates with them at will. The most symbolic moment is in the climax of the movie, when Iago drops both of the chess pieces in the water. He predicts the fate of Othello’s and Desdemona’s love. In the finale we see a boat with Cassio in uniform sail towards a sunset after burying the bodies of Othello and Desdemona in the sea, which symbolizes the end of a fiery love and passion, and the end of their lives. This is Oliver interrupting this progress, and we see the Venetians sending Othello and Desdemona’s corpses, joined for eternity with garlands and flowers, to the depths of the sea. Parker made the choice to show a comparison with the board pieces and human life, ruined by a person’s twisted game.
Also, another feature worth mentioning in this adaptation is Othello’s dreams filled with visions of adultery. This part is very interesting, since it helps the audience to see through the Othello’s inner thoughts and shows his jealous nature. As his mind creates these images from what Iago suggested to him, the audience better understands his feelings and sees how rapidly he let his imagination win him over.