Blog #22: Act 2 Revenge & Espionage

https://youtu.be/Cn3MPTo4JKk (embedding disabled by request of production company)

"The politics of "Bethlehem" are complex, but the relationship at its heart is simple: a kid who needs some kind of stability in his life, even if it comes from a most unlikely, and dangerous, place." -Bill Goodykoontz (Rotten Tomatoes critic)

Synopsis: Tells the story of the complex relationship between an Israeli Secret Service officer and his teenage Palestinian informant. Shuttling back and forth between conflicting points of view, the film is a raw portrayal of characters torn apart by competing loyalties and impossible moral dilemmas, giving an unparalleled glimpse into the dark and fascinating world of human intelligence.

Quotes:

• "By indirections find directions out." (2.1.66)
• "@Laertes your old man still has some tricks up his sleeve #ooh #gottem"
• "Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth." (2.1.63)
• Fishing metaphors is a total dad move #bait #carp
• "But breathe his faults so quaintly / That they may seem the taints of liberty," (2.1.31-31)
• quaint insults are passive aggressive much?? #sneaky #thingsnotastheyappear
• "But as you did command / I did repel his letters and denied / His access to me." (2.1.108-110)
• Dang Dad back at it again with the love advice #whitevans
• "This must be known, which, being kept close, / might move / More grief to hide, than hate to utter love." (2.1.119-121)
• are we telling secrets now in Denmark?? #surprise

Dear loyal blog followers,

     It's Ophelia again. I swear, my father thinks he's in a spy movie or something. Just recently he ordered Ronaldo to spy on Laertes, instructing him to "breathe his faults so quaintly / That they may seem the taints of liberty," (2.1.31-31). This seems like an oxymoron to me, but dad seems full of them lately. He has also said, "By indirections find directions out." (2.1.66), as well as, "Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth." (2.1.63). Denmark is a confusing place nowadays where fathers spy on their sons and lovers spy on their lovers. There is something corrupt in Denmark indeed. 

     That's kind of what I'm doing to Hamlet isn't it? It almost feels like a betrayal to report on Hamlet's doings around me to my father, but what would I be without my father's misled advice? "But as [Polonius] did command / I did repel his letters and denied / His access to me." (2.1.108-110) If Denmark were a spy movie, I would be the confidential informant. 

      I have but one job, to obey my father in all thing, at least until marriage. My relationship with my father, if a little unhealthy, at least offers me stability and protection against the world's evils. My father says that what I have recently told him about Hamlet, "must be known, which, being kept close, / might move / More grief to hide, than hate to utter love." (2.1.119-121) Don't think I don't notice the irony that my father advises misdirection but then declares that it is more grief to hide information; however, whatever my father's faults, he is still my father. 

With love,

Ophelia