So now here is ''O,'' a good film for most of the way, and then a powerful film at the end, when, in the traditional Shakespearean manner, all of the plot threads come together, the victims are killed, the survivors mourn, and life goes on. To suggest that ''O'' was part of the solution and not part of the problem would have required a sophistication that our public officials either lack, or are afraid to reveal, for fear of offending the bottom-feeders among their constituents. Miramax caved in by suppressing this film. In the aftermath of Columbine, Washington legislators called on Hollywood to police itself, and rumbled about possible national censorship. We have a peculiar inability in our country to understand the contexts of things when it comes to art, we interpret troublesome works in the most literal and simple-minded way. The film's misfortune, however, is that it was being made at the time of the Columbine tragedy, and was immediately deemed unreleasable by Miramax, which shelved it for two years Lions Gate is now the distribution company. 'O'' is close in spirit to Baz Luhrmann's teen-gang version of ''William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet.'' It isn't a line-by-line update but an attempt to reproduce the passion of the original play, and for younger viewers new to Shakespeare, it would only enhance a reading of the real thing.

There have been and will be many modern retreads of Shakespeare. It is Roderigo who was Desdemona's former lover (here presented as Roger Rodriguez, and played by Elden Henson as Hugo's gullible accomplice in treachery). He simply uses her as a way to bring about Othello's downfall, correctly observing that jealousy triggers his enemy's weakness. It is sometimes forgotten that Iago doesn't want Desdemona for himself.

Hugo's father is the basketball coach ( Martin Sheen), but dinnertime at their house is a grim and silent affair, and when the coach says of Odin ''I love him like my own son,'' look for Hugo's reaction shot. Again, all from Shakespeare, although the movie creates Hugo's (Iago's) motivation.

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