Everyone loves free movies, so here’s the 2009 Royal Shakespeare Company production of King Lear, arguably mankind’s greatest piece of literature.

Absolutely extraordinary is Ian McKellen, a.k.a. Gandalf, a.k.a. Magneto, who plays Lear, a role considered by actors one of the most difficult to perform. (If I thought that awards truly mattered as advertised then I’d be outraged he didn’t win the Best Actor Emmy that year. McKellen was nominated but didn’t win.)

My only substantive gripe about the film concerns the removal of the following lines from Act 4, Scene 5:

These lines, spoken by a delirious Lear to Gloucester, accentuate one of the play’s many brilliant and relevant themes. Still today, we find our officers, politicians, preachers, bosses, et al., caught red-handed for the very offenses they so loudly condemn. The lines may not ring like the best known Shakespeare, but are still everlasting and relevant. I must assume that he speaking of the word “whore” on TV proved too dangerous an idea. Never mind all the violence that survived to make it on screen. But I digress.

Also, apparently in live performances, McKellen would strip fully nude during the corresponding scene, however that’s been censored as well. I’ll let that slide easier, though, again, we still don’t question the violence of it.

Minor gripes aside, this production is incredible. And as for Shakespeare, if you’re not overrating him then you’re underrating him.

Open thanks, and much respect, to those responsible for this presentation.