"A Man For All Seasons"

Title: "A Man For All Seasons"
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Producer: Fred Zinnemann
Editing: Ralph Kemplen
Composer: Georges Delerue
Starring:
- Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More
- Wendy Hiller as Alice More
- Leo McKern as Thomas Cromwell
- Robert Shaw as King Henry VIII

Plot and Critical Review: England. The 16th Century. As the film opens we are immersed in a wild and dramatic ride as we stand side-by-side with Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor of England who, in a monumentally historic move of bravery and conviction, refuses to sign a letter asking the Pope to grant a divorce to King Henry VIII. We all know how the story goes, for it is written in every history book concerning the history of the West. Henry grows tired of his wife, Catherine, who is unable to bear him a son. He seeks a divorce, but, because he is a king under the authority of the Pope, cannot receive a lawful divorce without the permission of the Pope.

Again, the rest is history. Henry declares himself "Supreme Head of the Church in England" and is thus able to divorce his wife and take a new one with no danger of offending the Holy See of Rome. More refuses to serve under Henry (for he remains completely faithful to Rome) and resigns as Lord Chancellor. Though he is determined to live a simple life far displaced from the English court, it is not to be. More is at once considered a heretic and a traitor to the throne for not supporting the King's divorce and subsequent marriage. More is imprisoned for refusing to take an oath recognizing Henry's authority to re-marry, an oath all of England was required to take under the pain of high treason. More's innocence rests upon his silence. Indeed, the only thing that keeps him alive is that he never made any public statement regarding his personal opinions on the King's actions. Nor did he ever tell any of his friends or family how he felt so that if asked under oath what he said they would be unable to testify to his guilt. It's around More's silence and the state (and church's) attempt to convince him to make confession that much of the movie revolves.

More is eventually taken to trial and found guilty of treason when he is betrayed by Richard Rich, a young man who had sought More's favor earlier in the film but ended up joining with Cromwell, More's most vicious opponent.

As Rich leaves the courtroom More discovers Rich has been elevated to a lofty position in the state. Here are More's final words to Rich: "Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to lose his soul for the whole world...but for Wales?" A tremendous moment followed by a speech that you must see for yourselves.

"A Man..." contains what very well could be some of the finest acting captured in any motion picture. Scofield is as truthful, dramatic, and convicting as any actor can be while playing such a powerful part. He stands atop his faith and the law of the state and is unmoved though great waves of opposition pound the rock at his feet. High praises are due to Robert Bolt whose play and screenplay contain some of the most delightful and challenging of all dialogue.

The following dialogue comes from a scene in which More is betrayed by one of his dear friends who decides to pursue nobility over faithful adherence to the law:

Alice: Arrest him!
More: Why, what has he done?
Margaret: He's bad!
More: There is no law against that.
Roper: There is! God's law!
More: Then God can arrest him.
Roper: Sophistication upon sophistication.
More: No, sheer simplicity. The law, Roper, the law. I know what's legal, not what's right. And I'll stick to what's legal.
Roper: Then you set man's law above God's!
More: No, far below; but let me draw your attention to a fact -- I'm not God. The currents and eddies of right and wrong, which you find such plain sailing, I can't navigate. I'm no voyager. But in the thickets of the law, oh, there I'm a forester.I doubt if there's a man alive who could follow me there, thank God.
Alice: While you talk, he's gone!
More: And go he should, if he was the Devil himself, until he broke the law!
Roper: So now you'd give the Devil benefit of law!
More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
Roper: I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast -- man's laws, not God's -- and if you cut them down -- and you're just the man to do it -- do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.

"A Man..." was well rewarded by the Academy, receiving awards for Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography (More's manor is brilliantly captured), Costume Design, Best Director, and the highest of all honors, Best Picture.

My Rating: 9/10

The "Reel Revelation": "Defender of the faith..."

Sir Thomas More became Saint Thomas More in 1886 when he was beatified by Pope Leo XIII. For tonight's "Reel Revelation" I will simply offer a poem from a true man of God and defender of the true faith. This poem is More's final, written while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and is sometimes titled "Psalm on Detachment":

Give me thy grace, good Lord:
To set the world at nought;
To set my mind fast upon thee,
And not to hang upon the blast of men’s mouths;
To be content to be solitary,
Not to long for worldly company;
Little and little utterly to cast off the world,
And rid my mind of all the business thereof;
Not to long to hear of any worldly things,
But that the hearing of worldly phantasies may be to me displeasant;
Gladly to be thinking of God,
Piteously to call for his help;
To lean unto the comfort of God,
Busily to labor to love him;
To know mine own vility and wretchedness,
To humble and meeken myself under the mighty hand of God;
To bewail my sins passed,
For the purging of them patiently to suffer adversity;
Gladly to bear my purgatory here,
To be joyful of tribulations;
To walk the narrow way that leadeth to life,
To bear the cross with Christ;
To have the last thing in remembrance,
To have ever afore mine eye my death that is ever at hand;
To make death no stranger to me,
To foresee and consider the everlasting fire of hell;
To pray for pardon before the judge come,
To have continually in mind the passion that Christ suffered for me;
For his benefits uncessantly to give him thanks,
To buy the time again that I before have lost;
To abstain from vain confabulations,
To eschew light foolish mirth and gladness;
Recreations not necessary — to cut off;
Of worldly substance, friends, liberty, life and all, to set the loss
at right nought for the winning of Christ;
To think my most enemies my best friends,
For the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good
with their love and favor as they did him with their malice and hatred.

These minds are more to be desired of every man than all the treasure
of all the princes and kings, Christian and heathen, were it
gathered and laid together all upon one heap .

I take a break from reviewing but will be pleased to continue on Monday with a film of great importance and delight to me on a most personal level. - E.T.