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DVD: The Last King - The Power
& The Passion of Charles II
(A&E Home Video) 188 Min.
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
This is exactly the kind of film that I, for one, am constantly looking for and being disappointed by. Why? Because history is one of my addictions, and most historical dramas taking aim at British court intrigue rarely rise above the level of "costume drama." If you agree, you've got to see The Last King - The Power and The Passion of Charles II. They got everything right, from the costumes to the sets to the characters to, happily, the historical context of the tiniest details. Adrian Hodges' screenplay is exciting and engrossing; events which might have come off as a slight yawn in the typical history text book are given the weight they truly had, and suddenly everything is multi-dimensional.
At the beginning of the film young Charles experiences his father's execution from beneath the planks of the platform - a dream or reality, we're not quite sure - and though it's not a pleasant thing to watch it sets Charles' (and our) understanding and expectations of political life in that time and place. Forced into exile in the Netherlands, Charles awaits his opportunity to return to England and claim the throne. Oliver Cromwell has other ideas, of course, and it isn't until Cromwell kicks the bucket that Charles (Rufus Sewell), his best friend (Rupert Graves), and his supporters can ride back into England, where Charles is showered with rose petals and the love of his subjects.
Aaaand from there on in it's no picnic. True to life, Charles spends most of his time battling one person or group or another, each wanting to pull Crown and Country in different directions. He has to deal with a vicious mother (Diana Rigg), a pushy Parliament, a less than trustworthy "best friend," an ambitious son unhappy with the dead-end reality of his Bastard status and the most manipulative, scheming mistress in the history of adultery (Helen McCrory in a brilliant performance as Barbara Villers). This is enough trouble for ANY king to deal with, but Charles ruled at a time when Catholicism was being pushed into the Protestant British Empire, the plague was rolling across Europe and good mistresses were hard to find. Well, okay, he found plenty of those, but the other stuff was a bitch.
It would have been hard enough to bring all of the above off at face value, but Sewell looked for the true character of Charles and found a flawed man who also had some strong values and a plan for a better England. He gives us a very human King Charles II, locked in battles within his own court and within his own heart, compassionate despite the demands of others that he mete out cold punishments, and even tender to the queen who was married to him by arrangement despite the lack of love. It's hard to say for certain that this is how we would have found Charles during his reign (1660-1685), but the more one reads about The Merry Monarch, the more likely it seems Sewell nailed it.
The squeamish may find themselves turning away in a few places during this 188 minute film, but the depictions of beheadings and drawing and quartering aren't on screen for long. You can get through it, and it's worth the effort. The disc includes a bonus "Behind The Scenes" feature and interactive menus.
© 2004 - DJ Johnson