An other thing that I liked about this version was that when we were hearing the Narrator’s voice saying the prologue for the second time, we hear the words that he says being accompanied by the newspaper headlines with the picture of the two families with a given fore names.
Franco Zeffirelli’s opening scene didn’t have that excitement intro compare to Baz Luhrmann. He made his version more original, with the music that was popular in the Tudor times and the Narrator saying the prologue while he shows the audience Verona city in the Tudor times specially the houses from them years. He kept his intro very short.
In my opinion the prologue prepare us in a way which helps us the audience to understand what the film is about before the film has actually began. I think the prologues are really helpful for the audience to understand and bring their attention to the film. After I heard the prologue, it did help me to understand the film story so I do think it’s useful.
Another part of the two films that we found interesting was the opening fight scene between the two families.
In Baz Lurmann’s film version, he introduced the Montague Boys wearing kind of Hawaii shirts and normal jeans basically they’re dressing modern time clothes and they are in the petrol station to fill petrol into the car. Then we are also introduced to the Capulet Boys, their gang are enemies to the Montague boys. Both gang’s carry guns as their weapons, which are called 9mm swords. The two gangs are religious we the audience know this because some of them wear necklaces with a cross and some of the members of the gang have picture of Jesus on their gun.
During the fight scene, we see a woman beating Benvolio with her handbag, this is Baz Luhrmann own interpretation of the play we know this, because when Shakespeare wrote this play it wasn’t written that Benvolio was being attack by a woman.
Loud rock music is heard over the fight scene. This brings the exciting and dramatic moments back from the beginning of the film.
Then nearly on the end of the fight scene we see the sheriff of the town who is Prince, in a helicopter above the fight zone and he demands that the fight stops and warns if this shall happen again the gangs would be banished from Verona city. This was how Baz Luhrmann introduced the audience to the opening fight scene.
Franco Zeffirelli had a big different opening fight scene compared to Baz Luhrmann. His fighting scene began with the Montague Boys looking for trouble and ending up in a fight with the Capulet Boys in the middle of the market. So the place is different and also Baz Luhrmann made the public people look like victims and innocent but Franco Zeffirelli doesn’t, he made the public get involve in the fight as well so it makes the public not look like victims or innocent.
Franco Zeffirelli made the actors clothes, weapons, houses and transport really original from the times when Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet.
There are many interesting comparisons to be made throughout Baz Luhrmann and Franco Zeffirelli Romeo and Juliet.
Another exciting moment of Luhrmann film was one of the concluding last scene of the film which was when Juliet was lying down in the grave yard and Romeo is beside Juliet hugging her with sadness in his face and getting ready to drink the poison. Baz Luhrmann made his tomb scene look like we were involved and getting the audience on the edge of their seats, by making Juliet starting to stir her fingers very slowly and Romeo not realising it and Luhrmann made Juliet open her eyes soon as Romeo drank the poison.
This scene made the film look even more of a tragedy, while Zeffirelli’s was more original to Shakespeare’s play.
At the end of watching the two films version I’ve decided that Baz Luhrmann film was my favourite, because it showed me a good interpretation and it was easier for me to understand the scenes.