With the recent passing of Heath Ledger, I thought I would take a moment to review what I feel is Heath’s best film, “A Knight’s Tale.” This quirky medieval spoof brings us the powerful message that we are who we make of ourselves, and no one can keep us from achieving our dreams.
Ledger stars as William Thatcher, poor son of a poor father. Wanting a better life for his boy, William’s father apprentices him to a knight. After serving many faithful years as a squire, William knows quite a lot about jousting. When his master dies in the middle of a tournament, unbeknownst to the spectators, Will decides to take his master’s place and finish the competition. He and his companions haven’t eaten for several days and they need the prize money to keep from starving to death. He puts on his master’s armor, wins the competition, and they all eat.
Will loves the feeling of winning, and decides he wants to become a knight. But you have to be of noble birth in order to compete, so he invents a new persona for himself and become Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland. Traveling with his good friend Roland (Mark Addy) he enters the nearest competition, determined to start working his way through all the jousting tournaments in the land.
He gets a little sidetracked when he meets the Lady Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon). One of the fairest ladies in the land, every knight desires her favor, and she chooses to give it to Will. This makes him an un-favorite amongst the other knights, most specifically with Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewall) who decides to destroy Will and eventually unmasks him.
I love this movie for several reasons. First, Will never falters in his integrity. He did lie about his identity, but in every other way, he truly is a remarkable man. His loyalty to his friends, his behavior under pressure – you come away from this film really respecting him. I love the way modern music (“Queen”) is woven into the film. I love the way the characters run into Geoffrey Chaucer and how he enriches their little performance.
I didn’t much care for Lady Jocelyn. She manipulated Will through her petty actions and what was up with her clothes and hair, anyway?
This movie does have some violence, as we are on a jousting field for much of it. It also does have a small amount of sensuality, although nothing over the top. All in all, I really liked this PG-13 rated film.
Related Blogs:
Heath Ledger’s Death — What’s Real and What’s Rumor
Heath Ledger Movies See Record Sales