This has been quite the year for historical movies: the majority of best-picture nominees are set in the past, even if it’s the relatively recent past of Argo and the very recent past of Zero Dark Thirty. In addition, there has been lots of discussion about the historical accuracy of these films which, while occasionally interesting (particularly the Connecticut v. Lincoln controversy, initiated when Connecticut congressman Tom Coutenay criticizing the film for its portrayal of two fictional Connecticut congressmen voting against the 13th amendment when in fact all four congressmen from the state voted for the amendment outlawing slavery) is hardly news. All historians know that “historical” films are never accurate, but I, for one, still have my favorite films set in the past. I like these films for various reasons– the feelings they provoke, the certain aura or spirit that they might capture, the way they look, the performances, the soundtracks– but I rarely learn anything from them. There are some films that I like to show in class just because they provide a lesson in just how inaccurate “historical” films can be!
So, in honor of Oscar night, here are my top ten period films, in chronological order of setting. I’ve left out the major epic movies, most of which I do not like either as movies or history, in favor of “smaller” films that are personal favorites. And remember, I teach medieval and early modern history, so most of my films come from these eras: sorry, no World War II films, guys (I actually like war films, but I’m more of the Mrs. Miniver and Best Years of Our Lives type, with the exception of submarine movies, which for some reason I adore. If I could add an eleventh film, it would be Das Boot).
Medieval Movies:
The Thirteenth Warrior (1998): this film was a financial and critical failure, but I like it, or parts of it. Based on Michael Chrichton’s novel Eaters of the Dead, the plot is a curious combination of Beowulf, pre-Christian Scandinavian culture, and a real early medieval source: the Risala of Ibn Fadlan, the chronicle of a 10th century Arab diplomat who journeyed to eastern Europe and Russia and encountered the Vikings along the way.
Valhalla Rising (2009): an extremely atmospheric film in which a one-eyed Norse warrior (Odin?) and his child companion go on a mysterious journey, and end up in the New World. They come out of the fog into a dramatic encounter with Native Americans (apparently played by Tibetans) at the very end of the film. This is not an easy film, but its marriage of mysticism and blind faith are pretty compelling.
The Seventh Seal (1957): Ingmar Bergman’s classic film about a returning Swedish (again–I didn’t realize I was so obsessed with Scandinavia before writing this post!) Crusader’s encounter with the Black Death and Death Personified, with whom he plays chess intermittently throughout the films until Death wins. The scene in which the knight and his companions wait for death/Death at dinner in his castle is haunting, as is their “Dance of Death” at the very end of the film. This is one of the few films which I try to show in its entirety in class, rather than just clips, and the students usually get (into) it.
A Knight’s Tale (2001): and on a much lighter note………….you might be surprised to find this film on my list but I love this film’s spirit as well as its use of very deliberate anachronisms. I like to think of Chaucer’s world this way. You can’t recreate the fourteenth century on film anyway, so you might as well have fun!
Henry V (1989): this is my favorite Shakespeare film as well as my favorite Kenneth Branagh Shakespeare film. The St. Crispin’s Day speech is of course extremely inspiring, as is the score by Patrick Doyle, most especially the choral epilogue at the end of the Battle of Agincourt: “Non Nobis, Domine”. Most students have a rather romantic view of medieval warfare, which the long and bloody battle scene helps to dispel.
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928): it is difficult to over-emphasize the power of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s film, which narrates the examination, trial and execution of Joan of Arc in 1431 through extreme close-ups of the participants, warts and all. The master negative of the film was destroyed in a lab fire only a year after its release, and so the complete film was lost for decades, until a copy was miraculously found in the closet of a Norwegian mental hospital in the early 1980s. The DVD release in the 1990s includes an oratorio by Richard Einhorn called “Voices of Light” which actually makes the silent film even more compelling, but the real star of the production is actress Renée Jeanne Falconetti, who appears to be in a near-ecstatic state for most of the film, as if possessed by Joan.
A Queen and Two Kings:
Elizabeth (1998): this film is a historical hot mess which plays with chronology and the facts with abandon—and the sets are terrible. Nevertheless I do like Cate Blanchett’s characterization of the young Elizabeth, and the movie is useful to me as I can teach against it. I really like the poster too: I have framed versions in both my university and home offices.
A Man for all Seasons (1966): now here is an example of much more subtle anachronism, with Thomas More not only deified for his faith, but also for his individualism. There were so many English “historical” movies made in the 1960s (The Lion in Winter, Becket, Anne of the Thousand Days, Mary Queen of Scots, Lawrence of Arabia, etc…) that I felt that I should include one, and More’s struggle between conscience and obligation to Henry VIII is universally appealing. Paul Scofield as More and Richard Shaw as Henry VIII are both great; in fact, Shaw is probably my favorite screen Henry VIII. If I show clips in class, however, I feel that I have to balance the film’s portrayal of More’s resolute passage to martyrdom with his zealous persecution of Protestants.
The Madness of King George (1994): a very entertaining presentation of King George III’s descent (and recovery) into a porphyria-induced insanity in the late eighteenth century, and the ensuing Regency Crisis. The actual events seem to be accurately, albeit dramatically, portrayed, but this is not really my period so I can’t critique accuracy; I’m just entertained. Nigel Hawthorne as King George is amazing in this film; he was robbed by Forrest Gump of the Oscar that year.
One War Film:
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930): an extremely powerful view of another descent, of innocent, whipped-up German boys into the hell of World War One. This film was on TCM several weeks ago and I sat watching it, riveted, even while it was extremely difficult to do so. I think this movie benefits from its age; you can tell that it was made by the same generation that experienced the first World War. And of course all the battle scenes would be computer-generated if the film were made today, which would transition it into video-game territory and rob it of its humanistic power.
So there you have it: my top ten list of historical films–for now. This was tough; I think I would come up with a different list next week, or maybe even tomorrow. All comments and suggestions are more than welcome (even for war films): the list is always subject to substitutions.
February 24th, 2013 at 8:59 am
Excellent choices. It’s unfortunate that Hollywood so often “ad libs” when it comes to history, because the real thing is often pretty fascinating. I remember the film U-571 in which Americans slip onto a U-boat to steal an Enigma machine, when in reality it was British sailors who accomplished the feat before the US had even entered the war. I can’t imagine why the real scenario would have been any less thrilling than the one concocted by some screenwriter.
Anyway, it’s good that there are at least a few movies that try to stay true to the facts.
February 24th, 2013 at 9:37 am
Oh, I know! That certainly is the most egregious offense. Too often Hollywood panders to what they/it believes is a naive American audience, I think.
February 24th, 2013 at 9:49 am
What? No “Lion in Winter?” Okay, fine. I’ll make my own list. 😉
I’ll have to check out “Thiirteenth Warrior.” Looks interesting.
February 24th, 2013 at 9:59 am
I went back and forth on that one. It certainly is entertaining, but I think it’s just too “dramatic” for me. I’ll be looking for your list.
February 24th, 2013 at 10:09 am
The is a great post. I really liked it. Although many of these movies are historically inaccurate they shoot through to the mainstream of society and leave an impression. I find it really disheartening that I and others won’t really sit up in history class and listen but we will watch a movie of history provided it has a moral, a hero, and a love interest.
I applaud your efforts to bring history to your students in a meaningful way. You saw a hurdle and worked around it. Actually I do read a lot of history books now.
Elizabeth is a great movie. A Man for all Seasons is a great movie. A Knight’s Tale is a great movie. If you wondered if you left an impression, yes you did. Based on your post I am going to actively seek out all these other movies and watch every one.
I had never really thought that Sir Thomas More would pursue protestants more so than in the movie. He probably did. In the movie with his future son-in-law he spares no words but it comes across as the protestants are indecisive(at least to me it does.)
In terms of medieval movies I ponder whether you have seen Excalibur, another great movie. Maybe that wasn’t one of the important ones for your list.
http://www.amazon.com/Excalibur-Nigel-Terry/dp/6305558167/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1361717553&sr=1-3&keywords=excalibur
I like historical religious/spiritual movies. I’ve included a list here and have often pondered having a local all-day religious/spiritual movie review at the local library. I have them more or less chronological if I were to show them as an all day event. My wife considers this Pipe Dream #57.
Luther
http://www.amazon.com/Luther-Joseph-Fiennes/dp/B0002C9D9U/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1307028728&sr=1-2
A Man for All Seasons <<<< here
Elizabeth <<<<<here
The Crucible
http://www.amazon.com/Crucible-Daniel-Day-Lewis/dp/B00013F2S6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307028522&sr=1-1-spell
Inherit the Wind
http://www.amazon.com/Inherit-Wind-Spencer-Tracy/dp/B00005PJ6V/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1307027713&sr=1-1
Ghandi
http://www.amazon.com/Gandhi-Widescreen-Two-Disc-Collectors-Kingsley/dp/B000KX0IOA/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1307028967&sr=1-1
Little Budda – Fiction but containing some history of Budda
http://www.amazon.com/Little-Buddha-Keanu-Reeves/dp/6305428360/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1322094855&sr=1-2
Thanks. I didn’t mean to overwhelm this but I found the post very good.
February 24th, 2013 at 10:14 am
Thanks–I saw Excalibur long ago, but maybe it’s time to go back and revisit it.
February 24th, 2013 at 4:34 pm
Add another vote for “Elizabeth,” despite its problems, and “A Man For All Seasons.” While I love “The Lion in Winter,” the personal dynamics seem more dramatic than historical to me.
My candidate for “good try, but . . .” is a 1995 called “The Viking Sagas,” which steals many of the plots and devices of Icelandic family sagas, and sets them against gorgeous Icelandic scenery. But it distorts the role of the law speaker in historically impossible ways, and the acting talent is somewhat bleaker than the landscape can be.
February 26th, 2013 at 9:32 am
I’ll check it out–the History Channel has a new series on the Vikings as well, though I do not have great expectations. I generally refer to that channel as the “boy’s history channel” or the “Hitler history channel”.
February 24th, 2013 at 6:37 pm
As well as samurai films- the equivalent of westerns in many ways, so maybe not really historical- there are a lot of fine Japanese historical films. One of my faourites is An Actor’s Revenge, set in the early nineteenth century, which features a transvestite actor, market manipulation and deliberately unrealistic settings,
Mediaeval films you should see if you haven’t include The War Lord, which features Charlton Heston, the droit du seigneury and witchcraft, Marketa Lazarova, an amazing Czech film, and Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev. Finally, only to be seen on a big screen (or three big screens) Abel Gance’s Napoleon, the ultimate silent epic, even in an incomplete form.
February 24th, 2013 at 6:43 pm
Thanks, Roger–very interesting suggestions.
February 25th, 2013 at 9:45 am
There’s a lot to add to my watch list from here!
February 25th, 2013 at 10:19 am
Viewer warning: Long rambling comment:
Marvelous post. Did you happen to catch Maureen Dowd’s op-ed on the subject? Best point from that essay: “…inflaming my pet peeve about filmmakers who make up facts in stories about real people to add “drama,” rather than just writing the real facts better.” Amen.
Of course, design-sensitive soul that I am, the set designs on most American made historical dramas set my teeth on edge—the still from ‘Lincoln’ shown above makes me wince, it’s so wrong—and this in a case where there was plenty of primary evidence to aid a set designer.
In other news, I have been groaning with envy at reading how relatively easy blogging is for you. As a guy whose files are bursting at the seams with unrealized ideas, I can only wish I knew your secret. That envy was only underscored by your great ‘double house’ piece, reminding me that I’ve had a piece about double houses up in Bangor Maine in mind for months, but because I want to tie it into Thoreau’s visit to Maine (more relevant than immediately apparent), I’ve never gotten my head around it.
Keep up the good work. ‘Streets of Salem’ is one of my regular ‘must reads’
February 26th, 2013 at 9:35 am
I am honored, DD! Blogging has been easy so far because it works with my job/life, but (like you) I have a book project looming, so we’ll see how if I can keep it up. Lincoln is indeed perplexing–they had the best historical advice too–and as others have said here, history is always more interesting than fiction.
February 25th, 2013 at 6:58 pm
excellent choices, I’ve been wondering a lot about watching Valhalla Rising recently and I think you might have pushed me over into doing so.
Nice to see some love for A Knights Tale as well, Paul Bettany is so great in that.
February 25th, 2013 at 10:11 pm
I enjoyed Valhalla Rising quite a bit, but it’s not for everyone.
February 26th, 2013 at 9:29 am
It certainly is not, and I can’t really say I enjoyed it, but it certainly has stayed with me.
February 26th, 2013 at 12:51 pm
I reveal, with some shame, that I’ve seen only half of your ‘top ten’. The historical inaccuracies – those I caught anyway – didn’t spoil the experience. Don’t know whether I’d be able to say the same for Argo, which has left a rather sour taste amongst those of us north of the border. Jimmy Carter’s recent comments have pretty much guaranteed that I’ll be spending my money elsewhere.
A friend describes Argo as propaganda. I won’t go that far, but I will say it’s an insult, a permanent insult, to Ken Taylor and the other non-celluloid heroes:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/awards-and-festivals/film-awards/ken-taylor-sets-the-record-straight-about-argos-take-on-the-canadian-caper/article9044112/
Apologies for the rant.
Oh, and I’m also a Mrs Miniver type.
February 26th, 2013 at 1:28 pm
Thanks for the rant and the links–I’m really interested in the Canadian perspective. On a slightly related note, I think it was very odd that Mrs. Obama presented that award: they must have expected it to go to the less-political Lincoln.
February 26th, 2013 at 1:53 pm
I suspect you’re right. Lincoln seemed the frontrunner from the start… but I suppose faded in the stretch.