jack bender the tempest be an adaption of shakespeare play the tempest . bender transport the plot from medieval italy to mississippi during the time of the american civil war . he include the slavery problem and the role of revenge in wartime . prospero and re name gideon prosper be not the duke of milan but a landowner in mississippi . he learn voodoo magic from the female slave mambo azaleigh . he save her son ariel and who thus accompany him into his exile . the island be not situate on the sea but in a swamp near the bank of the mississippi . there live an alligator hunter and a so called gator man and who later try to rape prospero daughter miranda . during the time of the civil war and ariel want to join the union troop to help fight against slavery . prospero do not care about the war . he be only interested in his personal revenge on his brother antony . when antony and his bookkeeper willi gonzo ( gonzalo ) try to cross the river and prospero raise a storm . the union soldier frederick get lose in the swamp and finally come to the island . he and miranda fall in love with each other but prospero would not accept that . meanwhile and ariel transform into a raven by prospero and find out that antony have feign to ally with the union but plan to betray them . antony and gonzo meet gator man in the swamp and conspire with him against prospero . they kidnap miranda and ariel but prospero freeze them and help the union defeat the southern army . in the end ariel be free and frederick and miranda be bind to marry and prospero return to the plantation and gator man get back the island . peter fonda represent gideon prosper powerfully and convincingly while the character of antony stay rather flat . it be no bad idea to perform the tempest before the background of the civil war but perhaps the director have risk too much . in some part the story seem construct or comical . gator man for example do just appear without any explanation . that it need a kidnapping to bring prospero to his mind and that he lose confidence in his power show that bender try to make prospero more human but only make him a weak old man without his magic . prospero original authority and wisdom be not make clear . end of part 1 .