#the hollywoodization of this movie lmao; they propagandized henry v even more than shakespeare himself did!

[toneelspeelster]

why do you think the speeches fell so flat in the king? i struggled with the film also despite really respecting timothee as an actor.

the whole of the movie on rewatch just feels very.. we want to do ~shakespeare~ but we'll do it "our way" and it's just a little stupid tbh. henry v's personal conflict is so much more than "oh no i gotta.. be king now. and i gotta conquer lands bc of some ball". a huge part of the hal/henry character is all about brotherhood with the men in his army - not only the nobility, but certainly men of lower standing too. and why does this matter? bc hal spent a lot of his youth amongst the actual people of lower standings, in the taverns, being friends, almost family with falstaff. he knows them. it's infamous that he breaks falstaff's heart upon becoming king; breaking that brotherhood bond, and that makes henry's conflict so interesting (and the story of falstaff surviving here so stupid)- bc both the band of brothers speech as well as the once more unto the breach (dear friends!) speech heavily rely their strength on henry calling the soldiers to be brothers with him and with each other irregardless of social class, and that even with them being few they will become legends for winning this fight. but can henry even truly realise that brotherhood when he was so unkind towards his former friend?

and while the speech in the king touches on that comraderie, it's just. bluh. i mean. "if your day be today, so be it. mine will be tomorrow. or mine today and yours tomorrow" "make it yours. make it england, make it england!" it just feels stupidly simple, makes it all about just unifying under the english kingdom (which is the purpose but nearly not as straighforwardly mentioned) and i don't feel it in any way lives up to shakespeare's speeches. dare i say. they dumbed it down for the audience.

it's not without reason that this is one of english literature's classic quotes:

"we few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he today that sheds his blood with me / shall be my brother"