Othello (1995 film) As of December 2017, the film holds a rating of 67% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 39 reviews with the consensus: "Perhaps less than the sum of its parts, "Othello" is still highly entertaining, and features excellent performances from Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh." Othello (1995 film) Othello is a 1995 film based on William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name. It was directed by Oliver Parker and stars Laurence Fishburne as Othello, Irène Jacob as Desdemona, and Kenneth Branagh as Iago. This is the first cinematic reproduction of the play released by a major studio that casts an African
Othello (character) due to racial prejudice during Reconstruction in the US and notes that Othello is described using similar language to Aaron in "Titus Andronicus". Virginia Mason Vaughan suggests that the racial identity of the character of Othello fit more clearly as a man from Sub-Saharan Africa than from North Africa (Barbary) as north Africans were more easily accepted into society. She states that by 1604, accounts of Othello as deriving from further south were not uncommon. She notes Roderigo's description of Othello having "thick lips" was a racial stereotype used by 16th century explorers for southern Africans. Modern-day readers and theatre