Becket
The movie becket is an academy award winning film directed in 1964 by Peter Glenville. This award-winning film is based on the popular 1959 play. Becket takes place in England. The main characters are Thomas Becket and the King of England, King Henry. The movie takes place in England around the 12th Century. A big theme in this movie is religion. Religion is used all throughout the movie as it describes Beckets love for God. This movie displays an accurate representation of religion in medieval Europe.
Since Religion is common, many of the scenes take place in cathedrals. After learning about gothic architecture, the movie accurately displayed cathedrals from the 12th century. You could see how large and tall some of the cathedrals were in this movie. This movie also shows how the voices in the cathedrals echoed because they were so large. These are a few was the movie portrayed the cathedral in the movie accurately. However, this is not the only characteristic of religion that has been accurately portrayed in the movie.
As I mentioned before, religion is a big theme in this movie and how it is represented is an important part of this story. In this movie Thomas Becket becomes a monk because he feels that he needs to serve god over the king. During this time in the movie Becket takes his new role as a monk very seriously because he accepts the seal of the monks as well as gives all of his belongings to the poor. This part of the movie is accurately represented because he lives the life of a poor man to devote all of his time and belongings to god. Thomas Becket makes his devotion to god clear when he insists that the friends of king henry be tried for killing a monk. This decision makes the king very angry and feel like he has been betrayed by Becket. Becket was not trying to betray his king in this scene, he was just trying to do what he thought was right by god.
After watching this movie, this movie is probably intended for an older and mature audience that will have an appreciation for it. This movie seems to portray life during this time pretty accurately from what it showed making it a more serious and in-depth film. I think to really appreciate this film, the viewer must have a liking for medieval history and or the previous play that this was made about. After watching this movie, I felt like I was accurately able to visualize how religion and or religious ideas may have been in medieval Europe.
Sources:
https://schoolworkhelper.net (2019). Cathedrals of the 12th Century: Medieval Gothic. [online] SchoolWorkHelper. Available at: https://schoolworkhelper.net/cathedrals-of-the-12th-century-medieval-gothic/ [Accessed 13 Nov. 2019].
iTunes. (1964). Becket. [online] Available at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/becket/id588317095 [Accessed 13 Nov. 2019].
Becket seems like a Francis of Assisi type, gives up everything for his relationship with God. I like how you gave a good understanding of his journey of becoming a monk, serving God over King. I thought your tie in with the cathedrals and the Gothic Architecture was also a good touch. So, based on your review would you say this would be a college level film? I know you mentioned this would be for a more mature audience.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your reflection on this 1964 film. I often gravitate towards the older versions of there movies as well. I am always very interested in the authenticity of the architecture within historical films, especially those within a castle or cathedral. You mentioned that it appeared to be an accurate representation and that the voices actually echoed in the movie. I wonder if it was filmed in a cathedral or if it was just an elaborate, historically accurate set?
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