The Lion in Winter (Widescreen)

Who cannot relate to the pathologies on display here? Who could deny that most families have their own version of the "dramas" discussed in this timeless film? Who hasn't had a Christmas at one point or another where "drama" overtook the phony and forced familial facade?

The next time you get into a fight with a loved one, take the time to see how bad it can get and watch and discuss this movie. It is a rare thing when art rises to such stature, and this film is a tour de force of the dramatic arts.

And supposedly, I'm descended from John, also named John Lackland (to indicate his lack of extensive real estate holdings), of Magna Carta fame or in King John's case infamy. I've been told that the Magna Carta was the first human rights document. From the Plantagenet Chronicles, Elizabeth Hallam editor, states "Magna Carta did not only assert baronial privilege...an additional underlying theme...was the upholding of individual rights against arbitrary government." Magna Carta was exacted from King John at Runnymede on June 15, 1215 from his "rebellious" barons. In this film, King John is portrayed as a sulking, spoiled brat who whines "Daddy, when can I have the kingdom" and "I don't know who my friends are".

Acting-wise, I would give this movie 5 stars; the cast is incredible, Hepburn, Hopkins etc. I also love how it was filmed, the chanting, the gargoyles, relics of medieval times. I rarely watch movies more than one time; this one is entertaining no doubt about it. My favorite scene was the private meetings of the infamous family members (less Eleanor) with the King of France who enter the room one by one and hide behind separate tapestries as the whole truths become apparent. Dealings with the French king at Chinon castle were the main reasons for the convocation of the entire family in the first place, over mainly land possession of the Vexin, near Paris, taken by Henry in 1160 as dowry for the wife of his namesake Henry, the young king, who died on June 11, 1183, the same year as this story.

I give it 4 stars, because the history is, not entirely inaccurate, but is incomplete. This family generates strong feelings for or against them depending on how you view history, on what source you get your information from. Richard the Lionhearted, fought in the Holy Land in several crusades and was later held for ransom in a German prison. Eleanor of Aquitaine has been imprisoned by her husband Henry II, King of England when she tried to flee with her sons (less John) disguised as a man in 1173. King Henry II's greatest achievements were legislative; the origins of juries and grand juries, trial by jury, can be traced to reforms King Henry made himself during his reign. Also, the death of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, at the hands of King Henry is significant in that part of the attraction of the pilgrimages to Canterbury was the supposed miracles that proliferated after Thomas Becket's death and burial there.

Eleanor was something of a religious zealot; her effigy carved upon her gravestone depicts her holding an open book in her lap, possibly a bible? I leave you with the following food for thought from the bible about families:

Deuteronomy 24:16 and Ezekiel 18:20, 27 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor children be put to death for their fathers...When the wicked man turns away from his wickedness and does what is right, he will save his soul alive.

Titus 3:9 avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

Micah 7:6; Matt 10:36 A MAN'S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.