Even though we are pretty much finished with our study of Shakespeare, I thought it would be worthwhile to point out one version some of you might want to watch.
This Russian version does some pretty amazing things visually with the story, such as in this scene; here, the storm scene is re-envisioned as a collection of the powerless among whom Lear falls in. The film is full of these interesting variations on what we normally assume Lear should look like.
The Cordelia in this version is one of the best I've seen. It seems that Cordelia is a hard part to play without going overboard. Portraying love and mercy is hard to do in film ,a medium that is better at displaying evil and horror since those are visually more appealing than goodness.
The stark black and white colors also serve the story well.
Finally, this version is a testimony to how much power Shakespeare has on even non-English speakers. The number of film, operas, and plays based on Shakespeare in other languages suggests that his power is not just in his amazing use of language.