We all have a couple of movies that we can watch over and over again and don’t get boring. We marvel at the images, dialogue and discover new details upon every viewing. This masterpiece of John Boorman is one of those movies to me. Just recently, the old master-moviemaker got honoured at the annual BAFTA-awards, where he received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship for his impressive career.

The story of Excalibur is based upon the classic King Arthur legend, but has a more grim tone to it. It is a far cry from the usual armour-clad fairytale in giving a more realistic and violent depiction of the Dark Ages and showing the more brutal and squalid side of this era. The well-known love triangle between King Arthur, Guenevere and Lancelot is depicted from its most tragic side and shows the weakness of the flesh and the heavy burden of guilt. The romantic life of the kings and warlords of these times was mainly driven by politics and power mongering, set against a background of betrayal and lust. This is immediately introduced in the first act when Arthur’s father, King Uther Pendragon, asks Merlin to create a mist (the Dragon’s Breath) in order to brutally ravish the wife of his besieged adversary. In this story the focus is on Merlin for a large part, the sarcastic wizard and counsellor of the Briton kings. He simultaneously acts as a narrative character, exposing the foolishness and destructiveness of man. Together with the sword of power, Excalibur, he is part of the land and keeps watch over the generations of Briton kings, in order to protect the land.

Boorman illustrates a realm in decay, which is portrayed by the overall grimy depiction and with sometimes a spark of its original splendour. The whole film has a greenish hue over it, signifying the Dragon, which is the omnipresent power and spirit of the land. When Arthur draws the holy sword from the stone, he becomes the new king who has to save the land from complete disarray. Together with the help of Merlin he unites the feuding warlords, builds Camelot and creates the Round Table for his loyal knights. But as always, treachery and conspiracy infect the benign alliance and soon Arthur is forced to save the land once again. This results in the quest for the Holy Grail, the cup Jesus Christ drank from during the Last Supper. Here, the perspective is more on human nature, mortality and man’s ability to fulfil his own destiny, instead of emphasising the (traditional) divine aspect of the legend. Boorman chose an interesting angle here, since the Arthur legend has some fascinating aspects to it. Historical facts are mingled with religious and pagan elements, which still intrigue researchers and scholars up till this day (and yours truly).

On itself, the movie might appear to be a typical -albeit more bloody- knight movie, but it becomes more interesting when one is more versed in the Arthur Legend and its historical context. Boorman has taken the more agnostic approach and in this it shares a faint kinship with that other cinematic masterpiece, In The Name Of The Rose, based on Umberto Eco’s best-selling novel. Here too, the story sways away from the traditional religious background and depicts the darker less-known side of clerical lore. The origin of this darker secret consist mainly of the shrewd intermingling of local pagan knowledge and rituals together with the dominant and conquering Christian teachings of that time. This fact is often overlooked in history and provides an interesting setting for stories.

Apart from this subtle and more philosophical layer, the movie itself is still an undisputed masterpiece. Not only do we see some impressive cinematography and realistically violent action sequences, we also are feasted on some great acting by then debuting actors like Patrick Stewart, Gabriel Byrne and Liam Neeson. The effective use of Carl Orff’s haunting symphony Carmina Burana, only adds to the epic grandeur of this tale.