Netflix movie about Henry V at Agincourt called "The King"

[Destraex]

Watched it and I have to say I did not enjoy it very much. So depressing and ahistorical. The armour was a good 'attempt' .The fighting was no reflection of how it happened. I must say though that they are getting better at these things. It was not a complete loss as other movies have been. At least their were no swords penetrating plate in this one.

Now they try to justify it:

A better video:

[Sir Slash]

I really liked everything about the film BUT the battle which was a total mess. Just a whole pile of guys in armor wallowing around in the mud.  :o More like an English Rugby match than the actual fight.

[Destraex]

Are you s student of the political background? Was it accurate?
I have a mate who just finished books on henry and he said the movie was fairly ahistorical.

[Gusington]

Is it ahistorical but worth a watch?

[Sir Slash]

Definitely worth a watch, as to historical/political I'm not real familiar with that period. The film portrays Henry as a whoring, drunkard teenager who wants nothing to do with throne until his father and younger brother die and he is thrust into the position of King. And then has to deal with the powers at court that think they can easily push him one way or another. Accurate, I don't know? It certainly isn't a big budget movie but does a decent job of not looking cheaply made. It kind of reminds me of History Channel's, 'Vikings'. Like I said, great but for the battle itself.

[Father Ted]

It's based on Shakespeare - Henry IV pt1/pt2 and Henry V - rather than history per se.

[Gusington]

Thanks guys. I'll give it a shot.

[JasonPratt]

I just happened to finish reading Churchill's chapter on Henry V, including of course the fight at Agincourt. Haven't seen the show yet, but I'll post his information (in summary) for comparison!

C allows that there must be something to the charges that Henry was someone who liked the "idle arts" and the "fires of Venus", etc., because those were more-or-less contemporary descriptions, not just something Shakespeare made up.

However! -- C points out that Henry had been heavily involved in grim and fatal politics since boyhood, and had not only led armed forces (victoriously) under his father's command, kicking the butts of the Welsh as I recall (from which he had picked up more appreciation for the Welsh longbow, soon to become his favored weapon by which a few thousand English archers led by some armored nobles would effectively try to take over France); but he had even tried to force his ailing father to let him take over ruling England early by staging a soft coup! Which didn't work, and led him to back down in embarrassment when his dad refused to hand over authority. But still, at the time of his father's death he was not a layabout party-hound royal-who-does-nothing who had no experience or interest in kingship and got the job thrust upon him anyway whereupon he manned up. Any such interests in "idle arts" could only have been a hobby on the side to alleviate (as we might say today) the badass grimdarkness of his life so far.

There had been so much civil war in England in recent decades that upon his ascension to the throne practically all the authorities in the land were itching to go fight in France to press his claims for kingship there just to give England itself some peace; and indeed matters had been so screwy in France that a lot of people there were glad to welcome him in as the king! Not everyone, obviously, and the French eventually threw an army at him so large that his first invasion failed and he had to get the hell out of France. But he had no way to leave, thanks to being strategically outmanuevered by superior numbers, except to try to reach Calais, which at that time was a solidly held English territory with enough ships to get him and his army home.

This wasn't exactly a surprise to the French, so they were able to maneuver themselves around to what they thought was favorable positioning -- they even sent couriers inviting him to choose the route he preferred to take so as to make everything convenient for everyone! (Which is hilariously badass.)

The French had an uphill position; vastly superior numbers; they had brought crossbows; they had brought cannons! They knew they didn't even have to attack: the English were out of supplies, so their only choices were to fight and die, or not fight and die -- because by this point the French were so pissed off at Henry (and sure didn't want him recovering and coming back even for a ransom), they had made it known he wasn't getting out of France alive.

Henry created a third option out of sheer awesomeness, dismounted everyone who had a horse (himself included), told them in effect it was time to get dangerous and win or die, and launched a frontal attack against the French, with the professional archers leading the assault, forcing the French to try counter-attacking when the archers drew up into range.

At this point the French numbers became their primary disadvantage: they couldn't get their own crossbows or cannons to the front! The French knights charged in a first wave and couldn't get through the arrowstorm, being largely wiped out. This did however allow French infantry to get close enough that they could charge in a second wave, and the longbowmen just put down their bows and proceeded to act like the freaking Persian Immortals! -- joined by the dismounted armored English infantry, but those only allowed the archers to win, the archers were holding their own by themselves in straight infantry swordfights.

The second French wave was being destroyed, and tons of French nobles wounded and unwounded had been captured for ransom, when the French camp-followers launched a surprise attack on Henry's own camp. Their idea had been to work around the flanks and get into Henry's camp to loot the place before the French army got there, which worked really really well! -- though mainly because the English army had shut down the French army cold.

Unfortunately for the French, Henry naturally thought he had been outflanked by regular French troops, and in a moment of desperate panic he prepared to fall back and protect the camp -- which was unfortunate for the French because Henry realized he couldn't keep his captives and stage a desperate fighting withdrawal at the same time, so he ordered all captives slain.

The first arrival of English rear infantry, who hadn't even been able to get into the second wave fight yet, back at camp, scattered the French camp-followers, who weren't expecting to deal with any professional soldiers, and correctly realized something had gone badly wrong if this many English soldiers were arriving back in a hot fury, so they bugged out with any captured loot. This happened quickly enough that the French hostages were still being killed when Henry got a corrected report of what was really going on, and he put a stop to the slaughter, but it was mostly too late.

The French third wave decided to wave goodbye at this point and let the English march to Calais if they wanted to leave France so badly: the French missile-power would have only had a chance at one or two volleys perhaps before being overrun, and they didn't have enough infantry remaining to protect against an English charge, and most of their leading commanders had been slain or taken captive, so this was a good idea. They repositioned in more defensive areas elsewhere to guard against the English changing their minds about leaving the continent, and so after Henry asked the name of the nearby castle, thus officially declaring the battle named "Agincourt", that was the end: the English army reached Calais and its fleet, and got home to an amazing victory celebration.

Henry wore simple clothes during the victory parade, and refused to let anyone see his dented helmet or bent sword, because he wanted to give the glory of the victory to God first, and to his English footsoldiers.

Henry did much better in his next invasion -- enough so as to get his own son decreed as the heir to the French throne by Charles VI before he died, and the Holy Roman Emperor effectively treated Henry as King of France when they met. Henry was hoping to lead a united Western Christendom on a Crusade, but died abruptly of what seems to be dysentery. Upon hearing the Psalm quoting the verse about the wall of Jerusalem being protected by God, during final offices, Henry's final words were a short prayer to God about how much he had wanted to go recover and secure the walls of Jerusalem.

[JasonPratt]

Now let's see what medieval grognard Shadiversity has to say about the series...!

[Destraex]

Yeah. This is one of those movies that had the potential to do so many things right but gets so many things wrong that it means it will not get a second watch or recommendation from me. It will just edge it's way out into obscurity.