Hindi Henry V

********************
Hindi Henry V
http://urllio.com/qz06s
(Copy & Paste link)
********************









































Young King Henry of England invades France in order to claim his right to a kingdom and to the daughter of the King of France in this second film adaptation of the Shakespeare play. Henry's small but embattled army meet the French forces on the field of Agincourt.
The heroic and ruthless king, Henry V of England determines to lay claim to the kingdom of France. Henry's self-doubt and the diminished morale of his army stand in the way of a victory that would unite the two countries and provide Henry with a queen. However, his sheer determination and his impassioned speeches ready his men for the bloodiest of battles -- Agincourt.
Branagh's Henry is for our times: darker and more openly violent, less nationalistic than Olivier's version.  Along the way, he makes some interesting and rewarding choices; starting with the Heretic Derek Jacobi's Chorus striking a match before begining, "O for a muse of fire...." which sets the tone for the igniting of war in the first two scenes.  (I did feel a wisp of a reminder of the blinz vendor from Woody Allen's Love and Death in one of the later scenes, but that's probably just my own twisted viviosn.)  The scenes from the Henry IV plays also help tell the whole story of the King.
This is, in my humble opinion, the best Shakespeare movie ever. Shakespeare's history plays have always been easier to follow than his tragedies or comedies, so it's a good introduction to Shakespeare.  Happily, Branaugh doesn't include much of the comic relief characters and plays Henry more as a brash young man, but formidable leader than Olivier did in his version of Henry V (who played Henry just a little too snooty for me).  The lighter scenes including Emma Thompson as the princess of France were great when juxtaposed with the darker battle scenes.  And that battle scene . . . Thankfully we don't have to fight war like that.  The battle scene is realistic, but not over the top like Braveheart, and when the British are collecting their dead . . . I cry every time.   Lovely, lovely, movie.
One of the things that make [Branagh's] Henry V so thrilling is his audacity in trying to turn it into an antiwar play - a view that would have astounded Shakespeare. Astonishingly, he pretty much brings it off, emerging with steadily growing power as the young king who isn't afraid to bloody his hands. [15 Dec 1989]
The basic meaning of this speech is that the Chorus is lamenting how the stage cannot possibly hope to truly represent all that is to be depicted in the narrative, and therefore, the audience must imagine much of the action for themselves. He returns to this point during the siege of Harfleur, again asking the audience to imagine what is described, as it is cannot be shown directly. When the play begins, the Chorus acknowledges that he is quite literally standing on a stage where actors are about to start performing. Obviously, such an opening is a deeply self-reflexive device, breaking the skein of make-belief found in all narrative; the audience is presented with an actor on a stage, acknowledging that he is an actor on a stage and telling them that they are about to watch a group of actors performing on a stage. As such, the opening speech alludes to the very artistic medium itself, and this is the important point for the opening of the film. The film begins on a film set because it is a film; it has the same meaning as the opening speech in the play, but because it is a different medium, there is simply a change of location. The "gift" of the tennis balls from the Dauphin in return to Henry's claim to the French throne is a reference to Henry's previous lifestyle (as depicted in Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2). Henry was an idler who consorted with drunks and thieves, and the tennis balls are an attempt to remind Henry of his reputation for being a useless pleasure-seeker, thus symbolising the Dauphin's contempt for him. Other than the theatrical trailer and scene selection, there are no special features on either the R2 UK DVD, which was released by Universal Home Entertainment (UK) in 2002, or the R1 US DVD, which was released by MGM Home Entertainment in 2002. However, the aspect ratio of the film on the US DVD has been stretched to 1.85:1. The original aspect ratio of the film was 1.66:1. Yes, it is. A US edition was released in 2015. It contains no special features other than the theatrical trailer and is Region A locked.  a5c7b9f00b