My Favourite Movies: A Knight’s Tale

On the face of things this is a very silly movie. It revolves around the ambition of William Thatcher (played by the late lamented Heath Ledger) – a Thatcher’s son who wants to be a knight. Unfortunately for William you have to be of noble birth to do so. Fate steps in with the death of his master during a tournament. William steps in and wins the day – just. From then on William enters tournaments, steadily becoming a jousting machine and working his way up the ranking. Facing him (periodically) is the dark knight Count Adhemar (played superbly by Rufus Sewell) who intends not only to unhorse William but also take his love interest (played by Shannyn Sossamon).

Any sane person would say that this movie could not have possibly worked. It’s a strange mixture of modern and 14^th Century with little or no attempt at historical accuracy – including Mexican waves at jousting tournaments & medieval dances set to David Bowie numbers. The language is very modern as is the attitudes of the cast. It is neither a comedy, an action film, nor a love story but contains elements of all three. It is, to be honest, a mess of a film – and yet…… for some reason the movies ‘flaws’ become its strengths. The acting is generally superb – especially by the supporting cast of Mark Addy, Alan Tudyk and especially Paul Bettany. The jousting scenes are dramatic and exciting – so much so that I can really see it as a future televised sport. Finally the film has, more that any other attribute, a warm heart at its centre. It may be silly but it will leave you smiling at the end of it. A classic feel good film.

Oh, and before I forget: I should make very special mention of Laura Fraser as Kate the blacksmith (who was most definitely my love interest in the movie) and James Purefoy who played Edward, Prince of Wales (who CQ was drooling over and I could see why).