Some people appear to have everything going for them. They seem to be strong, invincible, and there is nothing in the world that could ever bring them down.

That’s the impression I got of Odrin, the basketball-superstar, main character of “O,” Hollywood’s 21st century version of Shakespeare’s 17th century play, Othello.

And yes, in this hip hop version, set in an all white American high school, Odrin, the lone black player on the basketball team – and the school for that matter – is brought down, just like the Moor general, Othello was in the original version that was set in Venice.

While the soundtrack had me bobbing my head at what seemed like the most intense moments in the film, non-rap aficionados will not have to worry, the movie was not over loaded with unnecessary music.

In transforming this serious work, with adult characters into a serious work with high school characters, director Tim Blake Nelson, in a recent New York Times article said, “The hope was that in re-imagining a very serious work without deviating from its plot . . . we could make an R-rated movie for a younger audience with very adult sensibilities.”

After watching “O,” it was apparent that he achieved what he was trying to.

By the mere fact that the story revolves around a high school setting, and the hardwood, younger people will be able to relate to it.

The significance of the color of the character’s skin is that he lives in an all white society, yet is well respected, accomplished and has a white girlfriend. (The original Othello was married.)

In this respect, “O” is your typical black kid from the ghetto making good in the white man’s world.

But the movie goes deeper than just the race issue. It is about jealousy and betrayal.

Odrin, the sophomore superstar of his prep high school’s basketball team, is the focus of all of his coach’s praises and attention.

But it quickly becomes apparent who his nemesis is: Hugo, the senior utility player on the team, who just happens to be the coach’s son. He finds that Odrin is getting all of his father’s attention, while he is shunned.

Hugo decides that he must eliminate Odrin and comes up with a plan to bring him down by using one of their teammates as a pawn to make Odrin believe he is having an affair with his girlfriend.

Odrin is finally so over taken with jealousy that he self destructs, loses the respect of everyone on campus, and kills his girlfriend Desi.

I was pleasantly surprised.

After watching the promos for it all I could think was: “Not Julia Stiles playing the white girlfriend of a black man again?” She recently played the same type of role in “Save the Last Dance.” If she’s not careful she’s going to be typecast into this type of role.

In reality, Stiles might have performed the role in “O” before she did in “Save the Last Dance.”

This movie was actually shot in 1999, but was not immediately released because of concerns by the studio that the timing might have been wrong in the wake of the Columbine and other high school shootings in the United States that coincides with the tragic ending of the movie.

Maybe it’s a credit to Blake’s directing and Brad Kaya’s writing but this movie has the viewer so wrapped up in the deceit, envy and betrayal of Odin by his supposed best friend on the team that we don’t even notice there is an interracial relationship taking place. Odrin’s girlfriend could have had the same color skin as him and the story still would have worked the same way.