It's kind of weird how what many people consider to be one of the best Shakespeare movies ever made was actually based on one of his lesser known plays. Scratch that. It was based on a true story based on one of the lesser known kings. To be fair, I'm pretty sure Henry V was probably the second most famous kind to bear that title, after of course Henry VIII. This is a story about the Hundred Year's War. Most people are probably unfamiliar with this apart from the fact that it made Joan of Arc famous. It was known for how the English won most of the battles, but the French won the war.Historically, that actually does happen sometimes. This movie/play focuses on pretty much every historical aspect you could imagine. I thought that the only thing it was truly missing was some sort of romance and at the end, guess what I got? What makes this film a classic is how beautiful everything looks. It makes you appreciate everything about Shakespeare and classic literature in general. Well, classic theater. I guess that can count as literature, right? I've noticed that Shakespeare used the word "thrice" a lot. People should use that more! It's quite long, but it's worth every minute. For all the drama, we also get some great authentic action scenes. The slow motion is used very well and it's great to see it being used in a battle before guns were invented. That was quite unique. We get a lot of discussions about royalty, religion, and many other relevant topics. It's great that there's so much going on. This is a great representation of history and all its violence. I'm still going to say the 1948 Hamlet version was my favorite Shakespeare film but this is the second. ****

'Henry V' is not my favorite of Shakespeare's plays, but it is my favorite film adaptation of a Shakespeare play. Henry's may not have been the noblest of causes, but you'd be hard pressed to feel it anything but righteous thanks to his stirring battlefield speeches and the clear-eyed moral certitude of Branagh's tour de force performance. The supporting cast is first rate, led by an Oscar-worth performance by Ian Holm, and Patrick Doyle delivers the first of his many wonderful scores.If you have a teen who you'd like to introduce to The Bard, this is a perfect gateway.

Henry V (1989) was adapted for the screen and directed by Kenneth Branagh. And, naturally enough, Branagh stars as Henry V.This is an excellent version of Shakespeare's most famous history play. Branagh is an extremely talented Shakespearean actor, and, as a director, he was given the financing he needed to make a film with superb production values. (The film won an Oscar for best costume design.)Branagh's Henry V--unlike Sir Laurence Olivier's--is less about patriotism and more about leadership. Every monarchy fares better with a capable king, and Shakespeare wanted us to know that Henry V, after a misspent youth, had become a capable king. Henry's leadership is demonstrated by his prowess in the war against France. The play is about the great English victory at Agincourt. However, unlike Olivier's Agincourt, this battle is portrayed as a bloody, muddy mess. Surely, this is the more historically accurate version. The charming scene when Henry woos Princess Katherine de Valois (his wife Emma Thompson) comes off pretty well. Thompson was 30 at the time, so she didn't try to play the role as a blushing ingenue. She's a real princess, who realizes that she will have to marry Henry in any event, but who maintains her dignity by making him work for her consent.Olivier dropped any scenes in which Henry might appear cruel, but Branagh keeps them in. Naturally, the hanging of Bardolph isn't shown onstage in a theater. But Branagh the movie director shows it to us in graphic detail. Henry agonizes as he watches the execution, but he lets it go forward.Branagh is astute enough to know that audiences love to see stars in cameo roles. We get Derek Jacobi as Chorus, Ian Holm as Captain Fluellen, Christian Bale as Robin, Judi Dench as Mistress Quickly, and Paul Scofield as King Charles VI of France. Obviously, they can all master these roles without even trying, and they do.We saw this movie on a "classroom-sized" large screen. It would work better in a theater. Something will be lost if you see it on DVD. However, if you love a great story, great acting, and great directing, you owe it to yourself to see this film. You won't be disappointed.

Henry V, according to Shakesspeare's version of History, is well directed.And well acted. Well done all around.And since Shakespeare is best read instead of seen, it works very well in closed captioning. A liar is a person who says he/she understands the words as they are quickly sent out in these plays. In truth, they cannot be deciphered by the brain at such a pace, unless they are read.Personally, I didn't care for all the dim lighting, but it made for realistic dreary castle settings, if not for distinguishing what is going on. And it works for effect, because like black and white, dim lighting helps to focus on the story and not on all the distractions.What sets this Shakespeare play apart from nearly all other dramas and films is that most films show the warrior soldier as a father figure already, finished with his battle days.Here, we have the soldier hero as a young man, before he becomes the old hero. And it is very engaging.This Henry is a very likable character, and very three dimensional. It's refreshing to see a director treat a heroine as a "trophy", the beauty to be won, and of course it was written that way.Henry becomes like the coach giving the famous gung ho half time speech. However, there is more to him than just talk. We wonder what his battle strategy will be, and we're sure he has one. Indeed, though vastly outnumbered against the French, he does use his archers in a cunning way, with a troops of swords dashing out to the foray to hold the enemy at bay and in artillery range. With their swords at about 100 yards, the archers send their artillery barrage over their heads at about 150 yards, making the French between a rock and a hard place in three ways: 1. The French in front have no healthy reinforcements 2. The French in back must work their way over bodies, or be forced back 3. The French in front get into the artillery barrage if they retreat, so they have only one direction This is the play in which the king goes out among his men incognito, by the way.We really only get a good look at Henry and a couple of others. Many of the characters are well drawn, but fleeting in their appearance.