Drama / Tragedy
The Cast: Garrett Hedlund, Michelle Pfeiffer, Al Pacino, Ian McShane, Timothy Olyphant, Angelica Huston, Ian Holm. Cameos by Mel Gibson, Robert De Niro.
The Director: Martin Scorsese
The Plot:
King Laius (M.Gibson) and Queen Jocasta (M.Pfeiffer) of Thebes birth a baby boy. A messenger arrives with what he claims is a message from the Gods. The messenger tells King Laius that he will be killed by his son. Laius orders Jocasta to kill the infant. She instead orders a servant (I.Holm) to do the deed. The servant takes the baby to a mountain top to die of exposure. A shepherd (R.De Niro) happens upon the infant and names him Oedipus. The shepherd takes the baby with him to Corinth, where Oedipus is taken in by King Polybus (I.McShane) of Corinth, and raised as his own.
Several years pass and all is well until as a young man, Oedipus (G.Hedlund) hears rumor that he is not the biological son of King Polybus and his wife Merope (A.Huston). He questions them and they deny the rumor. Oedipus then asks an oracle who his real parents are. The oracle tells Oedipus that he is destined to marry his mother and kill his father. Wanting to avoid this, Oedipus leaves Corinth.
Along the road to Thebes, Oedipus meets Laius. They get into an argument at a bridge over whose chariot gets to go across first. King Laius strikes the youth with his scepter, and Oedipus throws him down from the chariot in retaliation. Laius' head strikes a rock, killing him. Out of self-preservation, Oedipus kills Laius' traveling companions, although one servant escapes.
Oedipus arrives in Thebes, where the townspeople are trying to solve a riddle. Answering the riddle correctly is said to end the epidemic afflicting the people of Thebes. "What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?" Oedipus answers that: Man crawls on all fours as an infant, walks upright later, and needs a walking stick when older.
When news of the death of King Laius arrives in Thebes, the town elders decide a new king must be elected as Laius had no heir. Oedipus is chosen as the new King of Thebes and is given the hand of marriage to Queen Jocasta.
The epidemic returns and the townspeople ask Oedipus to help. Oedipus sends his brother-in-law Creon (T.Olyphant) to ask for help from the oracle. Creon arrives back with news that the plague is due to the murderer of King Laius never being caught. Oedipus vows to the people that he will find the murderer.
Oedipus calls upon Tiresias (A.Pacino), a blind prophet, for help. Tiresias tells Oedipus that he knows the answers to his questions, but that Oedipus should stop his search for the murderer. Oedipus thinks Tiresias must have had something to do with the murder. Tiresias then tells Oedipus that he, Oedipus, killed the king. Oedipus cannot figure out how he could have killed the king and believes that the prophet has been hired to undermine him by Creon. Tiresias storms out muttering that when the murderer is found he will be from Thebes, a brother and father to his own children, and a son and husband to his own mother.
Oedipus demands that Creon be executed, but is convinced to hold off by the townspeople. Jocasta tries to comfort Oedipus. She tells him that years ago she and Laius were given word by an Oracle which never came true, that Laius would be killed by his own son, but everyone knows that Laius was killed by bandits at the bridge. Upon mention of the bridge, Oedipus asks for more details. He asks her what Laius looked like, and becomes worried that Tiresias' accusations are correct. Oedipus sends for the one surviving witness of the attack to be brought to the palace. A confused Jocasta asks Oedipus what's on his mind. Oedipus tells her everything. He tells her about the man accusing Oedipus of not being his father's son, the oracle telling him that he will kill his father and marry his mother, that he encountered a carriage which attempted to drive him off the road, that he killed the travelers, including a man who matches Jocasta's description of Laius. Oedipus' only hope that he didn't kill Laius is that in the story he was killed by a gang of robbers.
A messenger (R.De Niro) arrives from Corinth with word that Oedipus' father, Polybus, has died. Oedipus becomes excited, believing the news to prove half of the prophecy false, for now he could not murder his father. He now only fears that he may commit incest with his mother. The messenger tells Oedipus not to worry, because Merope is not his real mother. The messenger tells Oedipus that he was once a shepherd on Mount Cithaeron, and that he was given a baby one day, which the childless Polybus then adopted. The baby had been given to him by a servant from the Laius household, who had been told to kill the child. Oedipus asks who this servant is. He is informed that he is the very same servant who witnessed Laius' murder. Jocasta, who now has figured out the truth, begs Oedipus to stop asking questions.
When the servant (I.Holm) arrives at the palace, Oedipus questions him, but the shepherd asks to leave without answering. Oedipus threatens him with execution unless he answers. The servant tells him that the child he gave away was Laius' son, and that Jocasta had given him the baby to leave for dead on the mountain top. Jocasta runs off to her room and hangs herself. A short while later Oedipus calls upon his servants to bring him a sword so that he can kill himself. He storms through the house until he comes upon Jocasta's body. Oedipus takes her down, removes the gold pins that hold her dress together, and plunges them into his eyes. A blind Oedipus then asks to be exiled.
The End.
Stark’s Comment:"Can a movie based on a classic Greek tragedy succeed nowadays? That’s the big question and I have no answer for it. Maybe Scorsese and the star power of the cast will be able to make it work. Anyway, this is one of the prestige releases of the Season, probably more oriented to win awards than to make big money."
