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My 12-year-old daughter and I watched A Man for All Seasons last week while the men in our family went to go do a manly job out in the cold winter weather. My daughter thought the movie was good, and I really liked the movie. Why? Well, it showed a man standing his ground--regardless of public opinion or the king's censure. Besides that, this movie gave us a view of the story of Henry Tudor split with the universal church as seen from an innocent bystander's perspective. So, while this movie isn't the definitive work on Henry's little tiff with the pope, it is a worthwhile way to spend a few hours.
This was a good movie ... BUT! if I hadn't been in the right mood for it, I would have thought it was the longest and boringest movie. It was slow, very slow. Compared to movies like Pearl Harbor and Fellowship of the Rings, this movie is deadly dull. If you want an action-packed movie, skip A Man for All Seasons. Watch it when you would like to be inspired by someone's integrity. A Man for All Seasons is not a movie to watch when you're looking to be entertained.
This academy-award-winning movie about Sir Thomas More will nicely complement your study of the Reformation or Henry VIII and the Anglican Church. This movie is about Henry VIII and his desire to divorce his first wife, Catherine, so that he can marry Anne Boleyn. Catherine hasn't supplied Henry with a live male child necessary to continue his royal line. Henry searches his mind for the reason as to why God has not blessed his dynasty and has decided that it's because he's married his brother's wife, Catherine (which is what Henry did do when his brother died). Henry has found that, according to the Bible, marrying your brother's wife is wrong. Therefore, he must divorce her. The pope does not agree and neither does Sir Thomas More.
Henry VIII wants More to officially approve of the divorce, but More can't condone it. More stands firmly on the side of the pope. More will not take the Oath of Supremacy which makes Henry VIII the head of the church in England. If he never states his views, More believes that he will be left alone at his home in Chelsea. More, however, ends up in the Tower of London, betrayed by an old acquaintance. In time, he is taken to court and falsely accused, ending up on the chopping block.
Without some background into the era and events, I tend to think this movie would be pointless to watch. I think that once Henry VIII and his struggle with the pope has been studied, A Man for All Seasons would be a really good addition to this subject--and if your students have little knowledge of Sir Thomas More, doubly so. Just make sure you and your students are in a mood to watch a slow movie and that you will have few or no distractions for the two hours it takes to watch it.
Please go and see what
the reviewers at Amazon
have said. They say it much more eloquently than I.
We also enjoyed watching Anne of the Thousand Days about Anne Boleyn--plenty of history, but entertaining, too! (rated pg-13 for some reason?)
Mary, Bloody Mary is also a good book from this period. It tells the story of Henry's divorce from Catherine through the eyes of Mary, Catherine and Henry's daughter. For ages 12 and up.
