Nothing Is Truer Than Truth

"Nothing Truer than Truth" is an assuredly done documentary about the Shakespeare authorship controversy siding with Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, as the true author. It is well-written and photographed, especially focusing on the Italian period of de Vere's life. If the authorship question can never be settled with full certainly, much of the best evidence for de Vere's authorship is the Italian influence on the Shakespeare Works. This film demonstrates that. The details about Venice and environs in the 1570s and the life that de Vere is known to have led there is the best part of the film. The photography in Italy cannot be more highly recommended.

This is a controversial subject, and yet this documentary saves its most didactic argument - that de Vere rather than the man from Stratford wrote the Works - for the last twenty minutes. Before that, it presents its evidence with the assumption that de Vere was the true author. That is a bold move, but I cannot think of any other evidence for de Vere's authorship that is more compelling than the Bard's astonishing knowledge of Italy, whereas the man from Stratford never went there.

Though nineteenth and twentieth century English professors have argued that Shakespeare was misinformed about Italy, it turns out that, whoever Shakespeare was, he knew more about sixteenth century Italy than nineteenth and twentieth century English professors. The film does not dwell on that aspect of the controversy except to point out that Shakespeare's reference to Giulio Romano as a sculptor rather than a painter in "The Winter's Tale" was not the mistake that some critics have thought. Like many artists of the time, Romano sculpted, too (he was also an architect), and the Bard knew this though later professors who assumed themselves to be better informed than Shakespeare did not.

The film also looks at the parallels between the events of de Vere's life and the things that occur in his plays and poems, for example, his estrangement from his wife after - like the title figure of his play, "Othello" - he was persuaded of her infidelity. Of course, "Othello" is based on an Italian source that de Vere would have known and Shakespeare of Stratford might have; so, how much is really autobiographical, and how much borrowed, and what if anything can be proven by that? More telling is the detail that in his poem "Venus and Adonis," the Bard describes Adonis as wearing a hat, which seems to match a rare painting of the figures Venus and Adonis, who are more often shown hatless. The painting with the hat existed only in Italy at that time.

Even among Oxfordians (the term for those who champion de Vere as the true Bard), there are differences of opinion: Was Oxford/Shakespeare bisexual? The film says yes. Was he a universalist who understood every class, sex and walk of life, as the film affirms, or did he view the world from a privileged aerie of sex and class? The distinguished talking heads in this documentary (who include Sirs Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance) all seem to agree on the same answers to these questions. Not all Oxfordians do. The interviewees in this film perhaps disagree with each other about whether the Bard was a misogynist or a closet feminist (unless they all think that somehow he could be both).

An odd thing about "Nothing Truer than Truth" is its neglecting to explain its title, which it does reveal to be a translation of the Latin motto "Vero Nihil Verius." But we are left to our own devices to learn that this was de Vere's motto and that de Vere loved to pun on the similarity of his name to the Latin word for truth.

I watched this movie with my wife on the day after Christmas 2019 and like most people was a believer in the "official" Shakespeare account; that is, before I saw this film. Cheryl retraces the trip taken by Edward de Vere, the 17th earl of Oxford, back in 1576. We can see details of Shakespeare's plays with our own eyes the buildings, places and cathedrals; many still unchanged from Shakespeare's time. One month later, we were having dinner for my youngest son's birthday and I mentioned this film, and my wife rolled her eyes. *Here he goes again.* Turns out, she disagreed. She still thought it possible that a country boy from Stratford could have written the works. To make a long story short, I proved her wrong. I found a *smoking gun* in the Title page poem "To the Reader" written by Ben Jonson who knew both men and showed it to her. She was shocked to see DeVere's name there. I never would have been inspired to do this, or any other research actually without first seeing this lovely film. It made all the details fall right into place.

The case for the Oxfordian authorship of the Shakespeare works is overwhelming at this point. By the year 2060 it will probably be common, accepted knowledge.

So much information exists that tie every single Shakespeare work to Edward de Vere that it is impossible to encompass or even know them all. New clues are being discovered all the time.

For that reason, this film is an excellent offering of an abundant number of facts about the ties between a variety of Shakepeare works and the 17th Earl of Oxford's life. Even if you are already a confirmed Oxfordian, you will probably learn something new.

The film is well presented with appealing footage mixed with statements by knowledgeable Oxfordians.

By the way, if you don't want commercial interruptions while watching, the film is rentable on Amazon Prime, etc.

This has been going on for a few years now and it's become quite disturbing how a certain sect seems determined to disprove Shakespeare wrote his own plays. I have now had the Earl of Southampton, Christopher Marlowe and now Ed Devere. But in The King's Man, the scholar goes step-by-step in how Shakespeare wrote his plays, some of which were based quite obviously on his impressions of King James. Since he was one of the King's actual men, he would have been in direct access to him, and also access to stories about abroad and personal tales of nobles. In addition, he had ample access to books, thanks to the many book traders who were set around several London churches, the most country-wide famous being the Book Traders of St. Paul's Churchyard. For the elite to keep attempting to explain away how a seemingly ignorant country youth could possibly dare to write anything as great as what Shakespeare did as impossible just smacks of so much snobbery, I can barely stand it.

This is the QAnon of Shakespere. Badly researched, if at all. Just the usual nonsense spit-up by a no-talent family with a no-talent heritage, desperately needing/seeking to claim ancestry to the throne of someone with actual talent. It's a pathetic attempt to "In Search of..." William Shakespeare.

In point of fact, I wholeheartedly recommend "In Search of Shakespeare," by Michael Wood. Unlike this film, it contains no melodramatic bullsquat aimed at trying to influence people who obviously never took a class in Critical Thinking in their lives.

Almost as bad as the 2011 distorted melodrama, "Anonymous," by Independence Day's, Roland Emmerich, who directs a gorgeous but insipidly fact-checked bunch of silly, overacted nonsense, that is oddly supported by actual actors like Derek Jacobi - who is apparent in both these films... to the point where it seems he must have some serious cash invested in the de Vere estate.