We first catch a glimpse of Romeo in the second scene but not properly, due to the sun glare and the shadowing on his body. This was a technique which Baz Luhrmann used, to keep us in suspense and concentrate on everything and everyone in that scene. A LS angle was used and slowly moved up giving us a MS shot of Romeo's face. He is sitting peacefully on the beach, writing poetry. The whole scene is very calm and is shadowed by the hatred and violence in the inner city. The sky is musky and pale in colour thus portrays the sea in a pinkish way. The scene's atmosphere is set by the 'chilled out' music bin played. His clothing is smart and dark in colour where as his fellow companions dress in flamboyant colourful Hawaiian shirts. Romeo is smoking a cigarette and is in deep thought.
The last scene is of some what importance because it casts Romeo as a very different character. The scene is started off with Romeo being chased by the city police, in despair he runs up the church steps and takes the priest hostage. The police seize fire. The priest is flung to the side and Romeo enters the church, closing the door behind him, shutting out the outside world. Panting on the floor he turns around to see his wife in her death bed through the slit in aisle doors. The soprano’s voice is introduced as Romeo walks down the aisle. Several camera angles were used, a POV shot to tell us what Romeo is seeing and the speed in which he is walking at, and a CU shot was used to show us Romeo's emotions and his pain. Only his footsteps and breathing are heard. The aisle is lit up by the strange blue neon type crosses. This gives the church a sense of coldness in the air. The Soprano voice gets higher in pitch as he nears the body of Juliet. The voice fades away and Romeo begins to talk with his wife. (Snapping the necklace containing a ring, off his neck). He puts the ring on her finger, as if they were ironically getting married again. Whilst looking up at the cross for guidance, Juliet begins waking up however Romeo misses all of this. Romeo kisses Juliet for the last time and reaches for the poison, which he then brings up to his mouth. Juliet opens her eyes and again Romeo misses it. She slowly reaches unto touch him, but Romeo reacts with a sudden shock which causes him to down the poison. Gasping for air, he is shaking in disbelieve at Juliet and tells her that he loves her. Juliet leans over to kiss him and hopes she can get enough poison off of his lips so she could die along side him. Struggling to breathe he says, 'and with a kiss I die' on his death bed. The tables have now turned and Juliet is now in Romeo's position. The whole church goes silent in despair. Shocked, Juliet does not let out her emotion for several seconds. Realising what’s happened, she starts crying in disbelieve. Opposite her lies a beautiful gun shinning in the light. Picking it up, Juliet cocks it in the deadly quiet environment. Placing it against her head she takes one last breath the pulls the trigger. Juliet’s body naturally rolls next to Romeos and looks as though they were in bed together sleeping. Tiny drops of blood splash over Romeo's face for effect. The soprano’s voice starts up again and the camera pans away from the two bodies. Black and white flashbacks accrue, reminding us how they met. Now that was the storey of Juliet and her Romeo.
My opinions of Baz Luhrmann's Romeo & Juliet were that he did a risky job bringing Romeo & Juliet into the 20th century, but was pulled off with flying colours. The change he made to the ending allowed us to see Juliet’s emotions and reactions towards Romeo and the poison. So yeah it was beneficial that he did that.
Romeo & Juliet is a beautiful story of two loved ones from two different worlds which showed us how much they were willing to sacrifice for their love. I love it 10/10.
