Excalibur (BD)

This film is irresistible because it evokes some of our most deeply ingrained romantic myths. Malory brought together Norse (Viking) lore with emergent French Chivalry and a veneer of supposed Christian virtue to create a potent, and often deadly narrative. Good narrative is infectious. David Hume explored how we think and why we believe the things we do. He concluded that we construct "systems of belief" in our minds which filter everything we perceive and think. Narrative exploits this human trait by combining emotion with events or "facts". The emotion, the sentimentality engrave stories and myths into us such that we can recall and recount them. If they weren't facts it doesn't matter once they take root in us. Beneath these mechanisms lie values that are seldom examined. This is how people can be led into great evil, or perhaps into good (I'm much less sure of the latter proposition.) The same stuff that Malory used became sustaining myths for not only chivalry but also serfdom, civil war, religious oppression et cetera. Arthurian legend is an underpinning of the culture of the antebellum South, the rise of German ultranationalism and even the KKK. Boorman even chose music rooted in Viking myth. Wagner, of course and another composer who rose to some prominence in 1930's within the third reich. Don't get me wrong. I still love this stuff. The emotion that carries narratives aloft is a central part of human nature and woe betide anyone who thinks they can move us, convince us or create movements without exploiting the susceptibility to narrative that dominates "learning" activities in human nature. Those seeking to create "The New Man" will always fail because they can't make myths that are seductive enough. Reason and empiricism will never overcome emotion and narrative as a source of beliefs. (I still hope that, on a case-by-case basis reason and empiricism can still bring us to a sufficient immunity to prevent our worst follies.) I'm only a little sorry for the digression into the tall weeds. It is just that this great story is so potent, even now that we should deconstruct and examine it a bit more than most great myths. That said, this film is magnificent. Lots of emerging stars, beautiful scenes that rise above a bit of cheesiness with ease. The orchestrations fit the narrative and the costumes go far to create the characters. A true classic both in it's origins and in this particular avatar.

I'm not sure where to start with my review as so many on here have already said what's needed to be said about this masterpiece. I saw this as a kid and loved it. But I wondered if I still felt the same as an adult because typically your perspective changes a great deal regarding movies as you get older. But not this movie. As an adult, it still holds up and that speaks volumes about the film's quality and the director, Boorman's delivery of the material. I've seen quite a few Arthurian films and none come close to Excalibur. This one feels very authentic and like many have stated, the attention to detail is outstanding. The makeup used to age the actors was outstanding, especially considering the movie debuted in 1981. I loved how Boorman captured the visual metaphor of Adam and Eve with Lancelot and Guinevere lying in the forest naked and unashamed while transposing Morgan le Fay's trickery of Merlin. Absolutely marvelous! The film's visual softness captures exactly how we see this period of time in our minds as evident by various paintings of Arthurian characters.......romanticized and full of fantasy. I also think what sealed the deal for me is it's a British movie with real United Kingdom actors/actresses and not some film using American actors/actresses with fake British accents like First Knight with Richard Gere. There's only one other medieval period film that holds up exactly as Excalibur and that's Franco Zeffirelli's adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. For a minute, I actually thought it was indeed Olivia Hussey portraying the role of Guinevere. I had to check the credits where I saw it was Cherie Lunghi. All of this new stuff about King Arthur and Romeo and Juliet just doesn't do it for me. I think the lack of special effects like CGI etc, forced Director's of yesterday to tap more into their creative energy, thus giving us better delivered material as well as amazing scores to really set the perfect mood. And I must say, all the actors and actresses did a splendid job in Excalibur. So rare do I find a movie where I love all the actors and actresses. All were visually pleasing and wonderful to listen to. Edited to add.....As I've been watching Excalibur, I've come to realize at least two movies, off the top of my head, (I'm sure there are many more) drew inspiration from Excalibur. The first being William C Faure's Shaka Zulu. There's lots of dialog using "so be it" in various parts of the mini series. The witchdoctor, Sitayi, having the exact same role as Merlin by ushering in a King through use of sorcery. Nandi ruling a kingdom by way of her illegitimate son, Shaka, just as Morgan le Fay did with Mordred. Both illegitimate sons hating their fathers and ultimately killing their mothers in the end and so forth. Then there's Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. The ending is nearly an exact copy of Excalibur, showcasing the Christian Crusaders by a sea vessel to civilize uncivilized people, so to speak.

Hard to find movie especially on Blu-ray. Top quality product no problems.

Awesome movie

DVD worked

Blijft een klassieker met goede soundtrack, ook het commentaar van Boorman is op zich wel interessant. Beeld ziet er goed uit , audio alleen 5.1 surround -puntje voor het ontbreken originele mix. en natuurlijke ondanks beloofde Nl ondertitel -punt voor afwezigheid daarvan op deze Italiaanse Blu-ray. Engels SDH doet het ook wel

Un vecchio film sulla leggenda di Re Artù e la sua spada Excalibur, ma tuttora interessante, con particolare attenzione alle battute del Mago Merlino! Un film ottimamente restituito in video ed audio in formato DVD.

This film seared itself into my brain when I sneakily watched it late night on Channel 4 as a kid. THAT scene...and that one...oh, and that one. Fantastic soundtrack to boot!

Ce film est un véritable chef-d’œuvre, autant l’esthétisme que la musique. A posséder absolument.