Henry V has been my favorite history so far.
Henry IV part 1 and 2 were about Hal being a debauched youth who either by design or by circumstance (can't tell still) turns into a brilliant king. Here we see him as the brilliant king.
He outs traitors.
He hangs one of his own ex-friends.
He wins battle after battle and makes speech after speech.
The British longbow is impressive and the archery was really fun to watch. Not the dying but the arrows flying.
Now admittedly, I don't believe in his cause. Who should get France? I don't have an opinion either way. BUT, I do appreciate his guilt for having the crown and for how he/his family got it. I don't believe in guiltless kings, so I am glad that his conscience is uneasy. It should be.
The play itself may not have impressed me so much, but I think Branagh did a great service to this play. I think he understands Shakespeare's work. He's willing to play it serious when someone else would play it goofy and slapstick. He brings depth to words that could easily be light and shallow.
The scene where Falstaff dies and his friends remember him was such a scene. The humor in the grief was perfect and real, exactly how someone may remember their old friend. This is EXACTLY how you would sit, all crowded on the stairs together.
He also did the cost of war really well. I think it's difficult to do in one movie, in the space of a couple of hours without doing it cheaply and he did not. He's not trying to manipulate you and I appreciate that. That may be Shakespeare too but I am happy for Branagh sticking to that.
The romance was the only light and funny part of the play and Emma Thompson is beautiful.
I think it didn't overplay it for what it was. They were kind of obliged to marry each other but they made the best of it and I do believe that is sweet in itself.
After all that, the play ends with us being told that Henry VI loses France in the next play??? Ugh. Well on to Henry VI. It's back to the Hollow Crown for us.
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