King Henry V

Kenneth Branagh, known for his adaptations of many Shakespearian plays as well as being in Harry Potter and directing Thor, wrote the screenplay for, directed, and starred in a close-to-text adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Henry V. The movie is about Henry V and his battle against the French in the Battle of Agincourt.

Kenneth Branagh looking dapper as King Henry V

               The movie is primarily war-oriented. It shows a lot of battle scenes and Henry V has some really rousing speeches. Most of the weaponry and armor looked historically accurate. There was one scene with a bunch of Englishmen shooting longbows and releasing hundreds of arrows. This was historically accurate as the English were more known for their use of longbows.

               Although about 80% of the movie was war, the last 20% was a love story that came out of nowhere. Well, it probably didn’t actually come out of nowhere. There was a scene involving Catherine and Isabel earlier in the film but it was all in French and didn’t have subtitles, and without a lot of action, it was hard to figure out what they were saying. Anyway, the end of the film shows the union between Henry V and Catherine. This scene was really fanciful and showed a union between France and England after England destroyed France in battle. Although I know the marriage happened in history, it just seemed weird that it would happen so soon after this battle.

              

              Overall it seems like the movie is fairly historically accurate. It’s definitely text accurate to William Shakespeare, although I’m sure he took some liberties. In regards to warfare, the Branagh film seemed to know what it was doing and England reigned supreme.

Below, I've included the video of Henry V giving a speech about how they will be remembered for this battle.