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| Joined: | Mon Oct 30th, 2006 |
| Location: | Florida USA |
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The very first show of "The Tudors" actually deals in passing with the topic of King Henry VIII's having had a dalliance with Mary, Anne Boleyn's sister before he became smitten with his eventual ill-fated wife.
The movie shows Anne played by Natalie Portman to be the elder sister, when, in fact, most historians believe Mary was actually the elder. Other than that glaring fact, I did not catch any errors of fact until I checked Google after the movie and found more.
Mary is played by Scarlett Johannsen and King Henry VIII is ably played by Eric Bana. Although I really like Bana in other movies, I prefer Johnathan Rhys-Myers' passionate portrayal of the king in "The Tudors." He has so much more fire. Bana portrays Henry as a more remote character, colder and a calculating user for fun and gain.
One thing the movie shows is what a hard row women had to hoe in those days. They were little more than livestock with no will of their own. Even so, ambitious and courgaeous women such as Anne Boleyn knew how to use the system to get what they wanted. That said, as Anne well discovered to her sorrow, men still did very much have the last say.
The movie does deal primarily with the conflicted relationship between the two sisters when Mary comes to believe Anne stole Henry's affections away from her. But it also shows that Anne believed Henry was actually supposed to be hers all along.
Some might think of this movie's emphasis on the two sisters' relationship as a sort of historic chick flick, but I felt it had so much more to offer. Besides Hubby really enjoyed it. We were both struck by how differently "the Tudors" portrays the main characters and how the movie did.
What remains the same are all the court intrigues, manipulations, spying, betrayals, dishonesty, shrewdness and cruelty that was typical of those times. I highly recommend this movie to those who have an interest in this period of history and especially to those who enjoy "The Tudors."