Search - Great Kings of England - Richard the Lionheart on DVD

Informative, but Cheap and Possibly Offensive

Jeffery Mingo | Homewood, IL USA | 07/10/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This documentary is filled with modern Brits dressing and acting as medieval people, so this will remind you of "Monty Python's Holy Grail." The work mentions Sherwood Forest, King John, and a returning king, so it may also remind you of the many version of Robin Hood.

I was pleased to learn about Richard the Lion-Hearted. I'm a bit surprised that medieval British people knew about lions, but perhaps they learned about them through the Romans and their past coliseum games. Unlike other documentaries where the homosexuality of celebrated, historical figures is denied, this work was bold enough to mention that Richard liked males. However, the narrator states that he was handsome, yet the actor portraying him has Steve Buscemi-like qualities. The Europeans and the Arabs didn't just fight each other in the Crusades; the kings of the warring groups knew and had contact with each other. This may make people think too much about "300" and other current schisms between the West and the Middle East. Be careful as a viewer.

Old James Bond movies didn't have realistic car chases. They had characters pretend to drive as a screen of a busy highway plays in the background. This used the same cheap trick. The documentary makers did not take the actors to the desert; they just show a screen with a desert background. They have one actor who actually looked like he was of Arab descent. However, for the Saladdin the king, they put heavy brown makeup and fake facial hair on an actor. This type of "brownface" seemed too much like the racist "blackface" used in the 1800s in the United States. I am sure Britain has many talented, Arab actors who could have played the role. The use of this racial drag is offensive, and possibly racist. Further, the actor uses an accent that sounded more French than Arabic. The narrator, in addition, had poor French pronunciation skills."