King Arthur (film)

Following the hypothesis that King Arthur is Lucius Artorius Caste , the director of the film arbitrarily combined historical events and historical persons of the second , fifth, and sixth centuries .

452 AD er Young Sarmatians leave their native lands. A year earlier, their fathers fought in the battle of the Catalan fields , and the Romans, shocked by their courage, saved their lives. But in return, these warriors pledged to give their children to serve in the Roman cavalry .

Young Sarmatians are brought to Britain, to the Roman bastion on Adrian Val , where they meet their future commander, young Arthur Cast or Arthur . His father died in battle, and the heresiarch Pelagius , who preached free will and the right of people to self-determination, raised the boy.

Since then, 15 years have passed, and by the year 467, Arthur and the Sarmatians, with their exploits, gained great fame among the Romans and the Britons. Of the arrivals on the island, Lancelot , Tristan , Gawain , Galahad , Bors and Dagonet survive. Although many of them, especially Bors, have little resemblance to the Romans, Arthur was able to cultivate in them the spirit of nobility, loyalty and brotherhood .

The service life of Sarmatian warriors is over, and in this regard, the Bishop of Germany arrives in Britain from Rome. On the way to the fortress, the Picts rebels led by the Druid Merlin attack the Bishop's escort, with whom the Sarmatians cope without much difficulty. Arthur's warriors dream of long-awaited freedom and a distant home, while Arthur himself is looking forward to leaving for Rome and meeting with Pelagius.

In the fortress in the council hall, Germanys informs Arthur and the soldiers that because of the threat of barbarians, the emperor and the pope decided to leave Britain , and that a huge army of Saxons was approaching the wall from the north. Sarmatians take the news painfully, because they know that the Saxons are cruel barbarians who destroy everything in their path, sparing neither women nor children; the departure of the Romans from Britain made the struggle with the Picts and the death of their comrades in vain. Finally, the bishop shows the soldiers letters of release from service, but first asks him to be alone with Arthur. And when the warriors retired to mark the end of the service, Germanys informs Artur that one more assignment must be fulfilled: the Sarmatians must remove the family of the papal envoy Mary from the settlement north of the wall, since Alecto, the only son of Mary, should lead the church . Arthur is forced to agree, because without diplomas Sarmats will be persecuted throughout the empire as deserters.

In the tavern, warriors have fun, though they don’t represent (especially Bors, who managed to produce more than a dozen children in Britain), what they will do after returning. When Arthur informs the soldiers about the suicide mission, they resent, but agree to carry out the order.

In the north of Britain, at this time, an army of Saxons, led by Kerdick , lands and goes to the south. The Saxons receive maps of the locality from pict-turncoat and learn about the shaft of Adrian, Arthur and the settlement of the papal envoy. To keep Kinrick’s son’s claim of leadership, Kerdick decides not to kill the Romans, but to take them hostage in order to demand a ransom from the empire.

In the morning, Arthur and the warriors head north. In the forest, the Sarmatians are ambushed by the Picts , who, however, leave them alive, retreating at the summit call, which gathered the council of tribal chiefs. At the council, one of the scouts brings a Saxon knife with runes and reports thousands of warriors marching against them. Merlin, realizing that the Picts tactics are useless against the Saxons, decides to ask Arthur for help.

After the arrival of the Sarmats, the family of the papal envoy is preparing to leave the settlement. Arthur, sending Tristan to explore, sees a half-dead old man in chains, who turns out to be the headman of the village. From a local resident, he learns that Mari punished the elder for asking him to leave the starving village more grain from the crop that went on sale; the residents themselves were afraid to cross the “divine herald” Mary, fearing for this the heavenly punishment. Arthur frees the elder, advising all villagers to go to the shaft of Hadrian.

After returning, Tristan reports that by the evening the Saxons will be in the village. Suddenly, Arthur notices that two guards are trying to wall up a passage to a basement. Having entered inside, the Sarmatians find themselves in a crypt in which, under the supervision of two crazy monks, are captured Britons. Marius tried to break the prisoners with hunger and subordinate his will, and the monks believed that the Britons were sacrificed to God for "cleansing from sins." Of the captives, only two are found alive: the Celtic boy Lucan and the Picteus intelligence officer Guinevere . Despite the dissatisfaction of the papal envoy, Arthur leads the rescued from the crypt. When Mari beats his wife, who tried to help Guinevere, Arthur, threatening with a sword, stands up for her. Insulted Marius in return promises punishment, and Arthur almost kills him. After one of the monks was immured back into the crypt (the second attacked Lancelot during the liberation of the prisoners and died), the Romans went south. Kerdik, finding the deserted village, sent after the Romans a small detachment led by his son.

The caravan moves slowly. Lancelot doubts the wisdom of saving the settlers, but Arthur refuses to give them up. On the road Guinevere is becoming more and more interested in Arthur. She tells him that among the Picts he has become a real legend and blames him for serving Rome. Arthur ignores talk about the injustice of the Roman authorities, but secretly still doubts.

At the night of the parking lot, when everyone falls asleep, Guinevere goes into the forest. Arthur goes after her and meets with Merlin (as it turned out, Guinevere specifically led Arthur away from the camp), who invites him to unite to fight the Saxons. In anger, Arthur reminds the druid of the village destroyed by his picts near the fortress: then Arthur's mother died in a burning house, as the fire-lit cart blocked the exit. Young Arthur with difficulty pulled out a sword ingrown into his father's grave, but did not manage to save his mother.

Merlin replied that he did not want his mother to die, as she was from Britons, like Arthur, and trying to persuade him to reconcile, recalling that his father’s sword, nicknamed Picts Excalibur ( Celt. Blowing ), helped pull out not anger, but love to mother. But Arthur obstinately refuses the request of Merlin and Guinevere, and then they remind him that he would not rescue the settlers if their fate was indifferent to him; the death of comrades will be in vain if the barbarians seize the island.

In the morning, Mary’s soldiers rebel against Arthur. Mari himself takes Lucan hostage, but is killed by Guinevere's arrow. The soldiers, having lost their master, surrender. Tristan returning from the next reconnaissance brings to Arthur the arbalest obtained in the battle and reports that the detachment of the Saxons follows behind. The caravan immediately set off.

On the road, Arthur apologizes to Alecto for the death of his father and learns from him that a year earlier, by order of Germany, Pelagius was excommunicated and killed because he denounced and questioned the actions of the church. Death Pelagia makes Arthur reconsider his view of Rome and everything he believed in before.

On a frozen lake, the column slows down so as not to fall under the ice, and Kinrick's squad is catching up with her. Arthur sends a caravan to the south and remains on the shore of the lake with the soldiers and Guinevere. They lure the Saxons off the shore with bow shots and try to make them crowd up so that the ice breaks under them. Under shelling, the Kinrik warriors are pressed closer to each other, but the ice can withstand them.

Saving the rest of the unequal battle, Dagonet rushes to the Saxons and begins to chop ice in front of them with an ax. Kinrick's warriors mortally wound him, but Dagonet manages to cut through the ice. Many Saxons die, falling through the ice, the rest can not go further and are forced to retreat.

After returning to the fortress, Arthur's warriors receive the promised letters, but the long-awaited freedom does not bring them joy. After the funeral of Dagonet, the Sarmatians are at a loss. Arthur Guinevere in love with him convinces him not to leave Britain to ruin.

At night, the Saxons arrive at the shaft of Hadrian and camp near the wall. The Romans leave, but Arthur decides to stay and defend his homeland. Lancelot tries to persuade his friend to leave, but Arthur is determined to be determined.

At dawn, the bastion empties. Arthur climbs a hill, from where a wall can be seen in both directions. Sarmatians see their leader and, feeling their unfulfilled debt, return. Meanwhile, on the borders of the forest, the Picts, led by Merlin and Guinevere, are preparing for an attack.

The leader of the Saxons sends against the Sarmatians of the surviving Kinrick warriors. But when they die, Kerdick orders the entire army to attack. The Saxon-assisted pict is killed by the arrow of Tristan at the very beginning of the battle . The warriors of Merlin and Guinevere are attacking the Saxons "in the forehead" and firing at them from catapults. The Britons win, the surviving Saxons flee. But the battle takes many lives, including Arthur's warriors: Lancelot, killing Kinrick in a battle, dies from a crossbow and Tristan is killed by Kerdik, who later fell in battle with Arthur. After the battle, Arthur buries the dead Sarmatians.

On the old Celtic temple by the sea, Merlin crowns Arthur with Guinevere and declares him king of Albion. Under the universal jubilation, Arthur declares the inhabitants of Britain, Scotland , Wales and Ireland a free people and is going to build on the island a country of free people where courage, honor and justice reign, something he and Pelagius have long dreamed of seeing in Rome.

At the end of the film, three horses (two black and white), which personify Dagonet, Tristan and Lancelot, ride across the green meadows of Britain.

The film received mostly negative critics.

On the Rotten Tomatoes website , the film has a rating of 31%, based on 189 critics' reviews, with an average rating of 5 out of 10, and a general final review: “The magic is gone, leaving the dull action movie” ^[1] .

A.O. Scott from The New York Times noted that the film was “a stupid film shot in the dark fog and smoke on the battlefields, full of silly sounding pomp and bloated music (courtesy, fairly pompous, by Hans Zimmer ). The fighting scenes are noisy and violent, but no more consistent than the story, which carries almost as many exposures as the latest Star Wars film. Fortunately, there is an element of a broad, courageous community that prevents King Arthur from being a complete brake. ” ^[2]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times left a more positive response to the film and awarded him three out of four stars, writing: "The film works thanks to significant contributions to the production and charisma of actors who cause more interest in the characters than they deserve" ^[3] .

• "King Arthur" (Eng.) On the Internet Movie Database
• Review of the film on the website Kinoafisha.spb.Ru
• Exler's Movie Review
• Movie Review by Silver