00:00With Hamnet releasing digitally just a day before it landed online,
00:04I decided to head to the cinema and experience what was being described
00:08as an immersive, heartbreaking journey on the big screen.
00:11And I'm so glad that I did.
00:13For two hours and 15 minutes, I was completely absorbed.
00:18From the very first frame, this film didn't just tell a story.
00:22It invited us to live inside it.
00:25We watched two strangers fall in love.
00:27We see that love tested by ambition, distance, and responsibility.
00:32And then we witness how one unimaginable tragedy gives birth to something
00:37that will outlive everyone involved.
00:40At its core, Hamnet is a meditation on grief,
00:43and more importantly, on how differently we grieve.
00:47Agnes and William both lose the same child,
00:50but they lose him in entirely different ways.
00:53Agnes is the one who raised their children day in and day out.
00:57While William chased his ambitions in London, she was at home,
01:01nurturing, protecting, and carrying the emotional weight of the household.
01:06So when Hamnet dies, she feels the loss not just as a mother,
01:10but as someone who was present for every breath he took.
01:13She watched him suffer.
01:15She heard him cry out in the night.
01:17She held him as life left his body.
01:20And in her eyes, William could never understand that.
01:24Not because he didn't love his son, but because he wasn't there.
01:28Agnes' grief is external.
01:30It consumes her.
01:32She clings to his bed.
01:33She refuses to leave the house where he was born.
01:36She cannot comprehend how the world continues to move forward
01:40when her entire world has collapsed.
01:43She is trapped inside grief.
01:46William, on the other hand, grieves internally.
01:49We see him walking through the diseased streets of London,
01:52surrounded by chaos and ambition, yet completely alone.
01:57There's a quiet guilt within him.
01:59The knowledge that he chose art.
02:01He chose opportunity.
02:03He chose absence.
02:05And that guilt lingers.
02:07But instead of collapsing under grief, he channels it.
02:10He writes.
02:11And that brings us to the most powerful idea in the entire film.
02:16The power of art.
02:18William doesn't tell Agnes he's writing a play about their son.
02:21He doesn't boast about his success.
02:24In fact, despite becoming wealthy and celebrated,
02:27he lives modestly.
02:28Almost as if none of it matters.
02:30Because the success cost him something irreplaceable.
02:34When we finally see Hamlet performed at the Globe Theatre,
02:38the film reaches its emotional crescendo.
02:41Agnes enters unsure, guarded, still wounded.
02:45But as the play unfolds, something shifts.
02:48She sees her son on that stage.
02:51She hears his name spoken.
02:53She watches a character fight, fall, and transcend, just as her son once dreamed of doing.
03:00And in that moment, art becomes a bridge between the living and the dead.
03:05It becomes a tribute, a vessel, a form of immortality.
03:09Hamlet was written between 1599 and 1601.
03:14And here we are, over 400 years later, still discussing it.
03:18If that is an immortality, what is?
03:21Through unbearable loss, William created something eternal.
03:25Another striking symbol throughout the film is the hole in the heart of the forest.
03:31It appears again and again.
03:33Dark, ominous, mysterious.
03:36To me, it represents the unknown, the afterlife, the space between worlds.
03:41When the hawk dies, it is laid to rest there.
03:44And at the end, after the play concludes, Hamlet walks into that darkness.
03:50But he doesn't leave immediately.
03:52It's as if he waits.
03:53As if he needs to know that his mother is going to be okay.
03:57Earlier in the film, William told him to be strong, to protect his sisters.
04:02And in death, he continues to protect his mother, not leaving until she's ready to let go.
04:08That final close-up of Agnes' face, as grief softens into acceptance,
04:14is one of the most powerful moments I've seen all year.
04:18Jesse Buckley delivers a performance that feels almost too real.
04:22You don't just watch her mourn.
04:24You mourn with her.
04:26And young Jacob Tremblay as Hamlet captures something so delicate.
04:30The innocence of a child who adored his father and simply wanted to be near him.
04:36Visually, the film is stunning.
04:38Earthy tones.
04:40Muted palettes.
04:41It's a grounded, almost tactile atmosphere that pulls you into 16th century England.
04:47It's a slow burn, but intentionally so.
04:50The emotional crescendo arrives in the final act.
04:53And when it does, it lands perfectly.
04:56Hamlet is not just about death.
04:58It's about love.
05:00It's about legacy.
05:01It's about the fragile truth that what is given can be taken away at any moment.
05:06And yet, even in loss, humans create meaning.
05:10We create connection.
05:12We create art.
05:13And sometimes, through that art, we find healing.
05:17This is one of the most moving films I've seen this year.
05:20A heartbreaking, beautiful reflection on grief and immortality.
05:25If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend experiencing it for yourself.
05:30Because some stories don't just entertain you.
05:32They stay with you.
05:34And Hamlet is one of them.
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