This is surely the definitive version of "Waiting for Godot." I have lived with and loved Beckett's work since I first encountered his work at Penn State back in the 1950's. Though my personal favorite of his plays is "Endgame," I have always found "Godot" worthwhile. When it first was produced, it seemed ever so enigmatic, but as has often been said, and truly, the theatre of the absurd eventually became mainstream, and "Godot" is now direct and almost naive in its symbolism .. I say almost because its honesty and tragic power overcomes one, nevertheless.
This is a tragicomedy that has cumulative power. This film version has a perfect cast, boasts subtly superb camera work, and the most perfect timing and pace throughout. Instead of an absurdist situation, director and cast manage to convey a sense of "surreal reality," for these two poor men (for the first time I wondered if they were brothers!) are truly waiting for some kind of handout that will never come .. and who cannot relate to that after what Americans have been through in the past decade plus? I have not seen the old Burgess Meredith-Zero Mostel telecast, but have ordered it, and I've always admired the old vinyl album starring Bert Lahr and E. G. Marshall, but Michael Lindsay-Hogg's "Waiting for Godot" will, I suspect, always be the cinematic pinnacle. I found it riveting and deeply moving.
