This is rather a difficult question to answer, because you
need to remember that any production of a Shakespeare text involves a creative
interpretation of what at the end of the day is just a set of lines on the page. You
would do better to compare two different versions of this
play.
Having said this, you might want to think about what
Brannagh adds to this excellent tragedy and why he does this. One of the most notable
things that he adds which is clearly not in the original text is a sex scene between
Hamlet and Ophelia, which is used as a flashback at various points during the play to
highlight the tragedy of what happens to Ophelia (and to Hamlet) and also to indicate
that they were both very much in love with each other. In the text, it is never clear if
Hamlet ever truly loved Ophelia, and we are left to decide this for ourselves. The film
makes it clear that, were it not for events beyond his control, Hamlet would have
married Ophelia and they would have been happy
together.
Secondly, another aspect that is different is the
way that Brannagh chose to stage the famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy in Act III
scene 1. The cunning use of two-way mirrors means that Hamlet can deliver this intensely
introspective soliloquy to himself whilst being watched from the other side of the
mirror by an eavesdropping Claudius and Polonius. This helps present Elsinore as a place
where you are never sure who is listening in on you.
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