Re: Tudor and Stuart sources
Dave Postles (pot@leicester.ac.uk)
Mon, 9 Oct 1995 08:48:04 +0100
I think the film was called "Navigator" (or "Voyager"?). As a Scottish
medievalist, could I please suggest that any use of "Braveheart" should be
made with utmost caution? See the forthcoming October issue of _American
Historical Review_ for my review of it. "Rob Roy" would be too late as it is
set in the early eighteenth century. Although it is set in the sixteenth
century, my colleagues and I have used "The Return of Martin Guerre" and
found it very effective. There is also a French film "The Passion of
Beatrice" set, I think, in the fourteenth century, which certainly
re-creates the misery of the Middle Ages (perhaps a little too strongly!)
Another recent film is set in France and deals with the trial of a pig -
it is very well done. I think it is called "The Advocate". It is
apparently based on a true case. "Becket" and "Lion in Winter" certainly
have a lot to recommend them. I still picture Eleanor of Aquitaine as
Katherine Hepburn! Then, of course, there is always Monty Python and the
Holy Grail - I used it at the end of a medieval course one year. By then,
the students had learned enough about the Middle Ages that they were able
to appreciate it to the full!
Elizabeth Ewan
Scottish Studies
University of Guelph
eewan@uoguelph.ca
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