Kenneth Branagh's depiction of Act 1 Scene 5 of Hamlet was acceptable. Although there were many parts that ruined the mood, there were also some that I thought were true to the play.
At the very beginning of the scene, it really bothered me that the ghost of Hamlet's father scared him by coming out of nowhere and by grabbing him by the arm. In his discussion of the scene, Branagh did say that he meant for Hamlet to be scared, but it would have been a lot better if Hamlet had been scared because he was about to see a ghost, not because the ghost purposefully scared him by grabbing him. Another thing that I disliked was that throughout the entire video, the ghost was speaking in a very annoying, raspy, and whispering voice. Hamlet is hard enough to understand, and the ghost's voice made it even harder to tell what he was saying. Also, I think that throughout most of the chat with the ghost, Hamlet had a blank expression and it was hard to tell what he was feeling.
The best part of Branagh's portrayal of scene 5 was when they passed the background story and the recounting of events. I liked the image of the old king sleeping peacefully in his garden, although they don't provide much detail about that scene in the play, I think it was portrayed well in the video. Same goes for the poisoning of the king, it was a good touch to pass a visual of how awful the poisoning of the king was because it made it even worse that his own brother would cause him that pain. Branagh said that he wanted Claudius to look affected by killing his brother. Although it is not mentioned how Claudius reacts in the actual play, by making Claudius look affected, Branagh made it seem like he might have regretted killing his brother.The illustration of Gertrude spending time with both the old King and Claudius added to the point that she moved on too fast, which is just how Hamlet explains it in the play. I also liked that at the end, Hamlet seemed vulnerable and showed some of his grief and affection by touching his father's ghost's hand.
The best aspects of Branagh's portrayal of Act 1 Scene 5 of Hamlet were definitely the parts that showed the illustrations of the background story. They provided insight on what Hamlet might have been imagining as his father's ghost spoke to him.Some of Branagh's choices on how to present the ghost could have been better, but overall his depiction of the scene wasn't too bad.
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