Film Review: “King Arthur” (2004; Theaters, wide release)

This is a big Hollywood movie. There is plenty of action to augment a well-paced story that propels the viewer towards a climatic battle scene where the good guys (Arthur, his knights, and the Britons) taken on the bad guys (the Saxons). It secures Keira Knightley’s future as real big-time movie star, as she shows that her talent, beauty, and charm are more than enough to fill up an epic screen.

The film tries to blend legend and history with a good dose of modern sensibilities. It is based on the theory that Arthur was really a Roman, or half-Roman, half-Briton knight, who led a group of Sarmatian knights at the beckon call of Rome. When Rome is forced to withdraw from Britain in the fifth-century, Arthur must decide whether or not to stay and cast his lot in with the Britons, who are now threatened with a merciless Saxon invasion, or return to Rome and enjoy glory and luxury. You can guess what he chooses to do.

But the film also recast the story as a modern tale of freedom and political autonomy. Rome, the Church, and the Saxons represent a threat to British freedom, and Arthur must champion an almost-Rousseanean ideal of social contract and individual autonomy. Knightley, as Guinevere, storms around seducing Arthur, more as a political subject than as a man, using both her sex appeal and political rhetoric to urge him to say. Hard is it may be to believe, her words seem to have more effect than her looks.

In the course of telling the story, Pelagius, the fifth-century theologian who lent his name to an enduring soteriology that emphasizes freewill and has been, by most brands of Christianity, considered heresy, becomes a kind of unseen ideological hero. Arthur’s only moral tie to Rome is through Pelagius, whose doctrine of free-will promises, for Arthur, to reshape the Roman Empire into a more egalitarian and peaceful society. However, when Arthur finds out that Pelagius has been excommunicated and executed as a heretic, he gives up on Rome. This is an interesting take on Pelagius (though not a novel one), and I like the way the film attempts to think through political implications of various theological perspectives, though I suspect the average viewer will miss this entirely.

All said and done, this is a fun summer movie with an interesting take on the Arthur legend. Beyond the allusions to Pelagius, there’s not much to chew on here as the notions of freedom and equality seem anachronistic and simplistic, but you will find yourself cheering for Arthur and enjoying Keira Knightley in some of the most interesting costumes she’s ever worn . . . sure beats her soccer uniform anyway.