Coriolanus

Coriolanus (2011) is Ralph Fiennes' directorial debut — a Shakespeare adaptation you can watch online on iFILM. Fiennes also stars as the title character: a fearless Roman general dropped into a modern urban war zone, where the ancient text meets news-channel footage and assault rifles.

Caius Martius returns from battle a conquering hero. His mother Volumnia (Vanessa Redgrave) wants him to run for consul, but the general despises the crowd he's supposed to charm. Manipulated out of Rome by rival politicians, he crosses to his sworn enemy Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler) with one goal — burn the city that cast him out. Jessica Chastain and Brian Cox round out the ensemble, and the script is pure Shakespeare, not paraphrase.

Fiennes shot in Serbia and Montenegro, turning post-Yugoslav wreckage into the bones of ancient Rome. The result is deliberately austere political cinema — no sentimentality, no easy resolutions, every speech carrying the weight of the original verse. Stream Coriolanus (2011) on iFILM.