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nTitle: Excalibur (1981)
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nDirector: John Boorman
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nCast: Nicol Williamson, Nigel Terry, Nicholas Clay, HelennMirren, Gabriel Byrne, Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart
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nReview:
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nI’ve always found the legend of King Aurthur and the Knightsnof the Round Table interesting because it is a layered story that branches out into manynthemes. It covers many aspects of the human condition and augments how selfishnwe can be, how imperfect we truly are and how uncontrollable human emotions cannbe. This is exemplified in the story by the raging passions that permeate throughoutnevery generation portrayed in the film. From father to son, to grandson, wildnpassions overtake logic and reason, leading most of the time to tragedy. It isna story that urges us to control our passions and listen to reason, becausenoften times uncontrolled passions can destroy entire lives. This isndemonstrated through the character of Lancelot, one of King Arthur’s mostntrusted knights. Lancelot falls in love with King Aurthur’s wife, LadynGuenevere. In this story, Lancelot cares not for the catastrophic results of hisnsecret love affair, he only cares for satisfying his passions and lust. Every timensomeone falls in love in Excalibur, the results are catastrophic. In many ways,nlove, lust and passion are demonized in this story, which of course demonstratesnhow this story is meant to propagate Christian ideals and mentalities, which ofncourse rubs me the wrong way. I’ve always hated how the bible demonizes sexuality;nat the end of the day sexuality is one of humanities strongest and most naturalntraits. But what the hell, I still love this story, I always root for Merlinnthe Magician who always comes off as the wisest of the bunch. He tells one ofnthe passionate lovers “You are not listening. Well, your heart is not. Love isndeaf as well as blind” Funny how it is Merlin, a follower of the old ways, anmagician, who ends up being the wisest character in the film.
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nThis battle between the old religions and Christianity is atnthe crux of Excalibur. This is a story of the battle between pagan religions,nwhich are centered around magic and old gods, and the new ways of Christianity which are centered around the teachings of the bible. It’s true, this story can be seennas Christian propaganda in some ways, yet, I find it fascinating how it hasnalways demonstrated that Christianity wasn’t always there, it had to shoehorn itsnway into society. Once upon a time things weren’t about Jesus and going tonheaven, a whole other slew of beliefs comforted people. Fascinating hownhumanity has always needed that psychological support in life, something to makenus think we are not all alone in this universe. It’s the idea that something isnwatching over them that humanity has always found themselves lulled into. Atnone point in the story, when Arthur’s kingdom is in shambles and going throughna particularly rough time, the solution is to go and find “the holy grail” thencup that Christ drank from during the last supper. Supposedly, this cup willnbring peace and happiness to the kingdom. But of course, we all know what this cupnreally exemplifies: the idea that society needs religion and its establishednmorals to function properly. The ideanbeing that without Christianities values and ideals, we are lost. I of coursendon’t agree with this side of the story because as the story demonstrates, nonmatter how much you have Christ in your lives, human passions are alwaysnstronger, the human side dominates. Mistakes are made, but these are mistakesnwe can learn from. And call me old fashion, but I like to believe we are betternthen that, I like to believe humanity is essentially good at heart, with thenexception of a few rotten apples. But, I also recognize that no matter hownidealistically we look at humanity, there’s always the ideal of what we want tonbe, and then there’s what we are. A continually learning, evolving race ofnbeings.
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nThis is also a storynthat deals with politics and power, and the importance of learning to hone thatnpower properly, not abuse it. The sword,nExcalibur, represents power that when used wisely is meant to “unite all men”.nI thought it was so interesting how in this film, John Boorman’s Excalibur, KingnArthur actually breaks the sword in half because of his uncontrollable rage,nhis abuse of power. Merlin tells him “You have broken what could not be broken.nNow hope is broken” showing once again what happens to people when they seentheir leaders abuse power; a feeling of hopelessness takes over the land. Thisnis also exemplified in the story with King Uther, who was also obsessed with owningnthe sword of power. At one point Uther tells Merlin “The sword, you promisednthe sword! I need the sword to be king!” and Merlin tells him “And you shall have it,nbut to heal, not to hack” letting us know that the true nature of power is tonbring peace to its people, not to obliterate them or abuse them which is what oftenntimes happens with those in power, they end up using it against those they arensupposed to protect and serve.
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nThe story of Arthur and his knights has been told manyntimes, each version focusing on whatever part of the story they want to focusnon, some focus more on the magical side of things while others focus more onnthe romance between Guenevere and Lancelot, for example Jerry Zucker’s FirstnKnight (1995) is like that. It stars Richard Gere as Lancelot and Sean Connerynas King Arthur and it was more of a romantic story of how the passion betweennLancelot and Guenevere destroys a kingdom. One of my personal favorite versionsnof this story has always been Merlin (1998). On this television mini-series SamnNeil plays Merlin the Magician and Miranda Richardson plays The Lady of thenLake and an extremely memorable Queen Mab. In this mini-series directed bynSteve Barron, the story is told from the perspective of Merlin himself; wenactually get to know the magicians origins. This time around, it’s his storynand since it’s a mini-series, the filmmakers really elaborated on the tale andneven expanded it. Merlin is an extremely fun film with great visual effects andnamazing performances from an equally great cast, highly recommend you checknthat mini-series out. John Boorman’snExcalibur is one of the best versions of the story as well, it’s an epic andnlush production, hell, it even gets a bit surreal with its dream sequences andnvisions. But knowing Boorman, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, thisnis the director who gave us Zardoz (1974), one of the trippiest movies evernmade. On this version of the story Boorman chose to diminish the focus on thenmagical aspects. If there is magic, it is a subtle thing and handled throughnthe use of practical effects, which is a breath of fresh air in this CGIndominated world. A lot of the magical aspects were handled through the use ofnimaginative lighting and old school effects, it was a smoke and mirrors type ofnproduction.
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nI have to give props to John Boorman for the look of thenfilm, an aspect of it that got many accolades from critics when it was firstnreleased. Excalibur also gave Liam Neeson his first shot at acting in a fullnlength feature film. Patrick Stewart also plays one of Arthur’s knights. Andnspeaking of the knights, they all wear these shiny armors that give them a godnlike feel which by the way, is one of the other themes that the film alsontouches upon, man thinking themselves gods end up needing Christ because theyncouldn’t handle the power of godhood. As you can see, this is a story and anfilm that touches upon many relevant themes dealing with the human condition,nbut above all it augments the ugly side of human nature, our worst qualities, itndoes this to hopefully stimulate us into being better human beings.
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nRating: 5 out of 5
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