Why Henry V ?
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eadoe — 17 years ago(September 01, 2008 04:24 AM)
"But if this took place at Ft. Jackson, SC, there is no way in H-E-double hockey sticks that they would have been allowed to go all the way to Canada."
It didn't take place in SC, it took place in Detroit, where going to Canada is like going across the street. The tunnel takes 10 minutes. People go to Windsor for lunch all the time in the middle of a work day no big deal. However, they went to Stratford, Ontario, where the Shakespeare festival is held, which is a couple hours drive. Still no big deal.
"The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power."- Julius Caesar, act 2 sc 1
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rsjoseph — 18 years ago(January 19, 2008 06:46 PM)
This movie was set in Michigan, less than a days drive from where it was set, lies the town of Stratford, Ontario. Each summer there, in Stratford, is held a Shakespeare Festival, It was there that they traveled to see the play. The play shown was not Henry V but Richard III as I recall. The scene shown as I remember it was from Act V, scene IV wherein Richard says " A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse" and Catesby replies "Withdraw my Lord. I'll help you to a horse". The festival has five theaters and there are multiple productions each day so that they may have seen more that one play in there visit. As to my Henry V, The speech which Shakespeare has Henry V speak before the battle of Agincourt (Know as the St. Crispin's Day Speech) is justly famous for it's inspiration to the army.
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tcw214 — 17 years ago(November 23, 2008 05:24 AM)
you need to go back and study.. the english slaughtered the french killing as many as 10,000. and the french. killed their own crossbow men(mercs) who where making a retreat from the english long bow.
as for the play.. its Shakespeare, .. just about every main character dies in every other play.
HENRY V.. died from a really bad case of the runs..dysentery. -
flwagner3-1 — 17 years ago(May 26, 2008 09:03 AM)
"rsjoseph" has it just about right. The choice of this particular piece of Shakespeare had nothing however, to do with location, theater, "what's playing tonight," "Hamlet," or anything else. This particular piece of Shakespeare is one of the most beautiful speeches ever done in the English language and it is awe-inspiring, designed to bring the men together, to show that as a "band of brothers" they can overcome the most dire of circumstances. That's what the movie is about, bringing a group of misfits together, to be an effective part of a team, i.e., the army. Why do you think Stephen Ambrose chose the "band of brothers" line for his book, or the TV producers chose the it for their WWII/101st Airborne saga?
Here's a link: try it and listen to the power in this speech by King Henry (this is from the Kenneth Branagh movie made in 1989). Sit back, put your feet up, close your eyes, and just listen. It's the whole speech: http://misserinmarie.blogspot.com/2007/10/st-crispins-day.html
Best wishes,
Fred. -
rick-harris83 — 17 years ago(February 05, 2009 11:56 PM)
Apparently Henry V was the only Shakespeare play showing close enough for them to get to. What confuses me is if they are in Basic Combat Training, how in the blue blazes did they ever get permission to go off base while they were in training. WHen I was in basic we weren't even allowed to read a newspaper let alone go off base
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merlinsbeard — 16 years ago(February 21, 2010 09:37 PM)
It makes sense that Henry V is chosen as the play they see onstage because of the theme of Shakespeare's play.
It's not just a war story. It is also about a young, completely untried English king who takes a small army to war against France, which outnumbers them by the thousands, and wins against all odds. That's why the line is about "we few, we happy few" because it was a small force of English. This is true historically, but Shakespeare emphasizes it even more in the play (and leaves out the fact that they win because the English have the longbow and the French do not; Shakespeare does this in many of his plays. He keeps or changes or leaves out historical details in order to make the play into the story and theme that he wants to show on stage).
This idea of the young and untried king and warriors who win against all odds matches what the double-Ds are facing in their lives.
They win the war (in Shakespeare's version) because of their bonds with one another, because of their love for England, and because their leader is a good man.
This all fits very well with what the movie is showing that the double-Ds are learning, and that their leader, played by DeVito, is learning (to be a better man even as they are all learning to love one another and hold together).
It's actually a lot more effective than having them see Hamlet, because that would just repeat what they have already discussed in the movie. This way, the movie extends the themes and allows the one character to learn another speech that he speaks in that great scene (the St Crispin's Day speech), showing the Drill Sgt that they have learned something worthwhile.
But the movie also asks its audience to learn something, or to draw upon our education, or at least to be curious enough to look up Henry V or to read it, in order to answer this obvious question, and not to be satisfied with an answer like "Shakespeare is rarely performed" (Shakespeare is in fact performed regularly across the country, and as someone pointed out, the Stratford Festival is not far from where this film is set). I kind of like that in a movie it asks something of us, as well as of its characters. -
tyshimah3 — 11 years ago(June 20, 2014 07:38 PM)
They go to Canada (not far from Michigan where the story takes place) to see Henry V because it's the only Shakespeare play available to them. Also, they see Henry V because it deals with soldiers, something the DDs hope to become.
They DO NOT read Henry V in class, they only read Hamlet. And that's what they're tested on.
"Do you even remember what you came here to find?" -
heathbc — 10 years ago(May 13, 2015 09:10 AM)
The choice of Henry V, I would venture, is made by the scriptwriters for dramatic effect. The 'Eve of Agincourt' speech by the King is probably the only speech which would get the desired reaction from the cynical drill sergeant. While we, as the audience, are moved by the speech, dramatically it is the drill sergeant who
must
be moved by it, else the whole point of the movie is lost. Whether the play takes place in Canada or somewhere else in the US is secondary to the dramatic necessity of it taking place
at all- and it has to be
this
play that they see.
- and it has to be
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tyshimah3 — 10 years ago(May 13, 2015 09:45 AM)
That totally makes sense. I agree.
But my point still stands. It is the only one in the area, so that's what they have to go and see, but your point is also correct. This is the Shakespeare play that works to get to the heart of the drill sergeant.
I love this movie.
"Do you even remember what you came here to find?"