The Romeo and Juliet story has been made and remade by Hollywood filmmakers since the advent of cinema. This time, the Brits give it a try with Oscar-nominated "Solomon & Gaenor."
Solomon is the son of a Jewish family in 1911 Wales. One day, while out selling cloth for his father, he meets Gaenor, the meek, hardworking daughter of a family stricken by a miners' strike.
He makes her a dress, they meet for illicit rendezvous and (of course) fall in love. But when she turns up pregnant and the miners start blaming the town Jews for their misfortunes, the story takes a definite turn from anything Shakespeare would have written.
Where the movie sticks to the classic story, it does well. It's a beautiful love story emotionally fleshed out by the luminous title characters, played by Ioan Gruffudd and Nia Roberts.
While both attractive, the ordinariness of the two is what makes the coupling compelling - their chemistry is real, palpable and believable. They're definitely not glamorous.
The background story is also refreshingly original. Seeing the conflict between the Welsh and the Jews through modern eyes proves heartbreaking, especially when Solomon tries to conceal his heritage and the couple is torn apart by no more than stereotypes.
The gloomy, dark cinematography also adds to the weight of the story. You'd think there was never a sunny day in this quaint little town.
But when the script deviates from the classic text, things start going downhill.
