Labyrinth

Somber. Poignant. Thought Provoking. I was thinking about the film and its implications long after it was over. It echoes so many repeated events in history of committing acts of violence, all in the name of religion. The crusading party proclaiming itself morally correct and never guilty. To be honest, I never knew about the Cathars and their fate until I watched this miniseries. It really got me interested in learning more about them.

So much criticism from other people and low ratings because the feature was dark and portrayed a harsh reality of a very dark aspect of Christianity. I felt compelled to chime in with the minority of viewers who liked this feature. The film neither revels nor vilifies the darkness and violence of the antagonists. Instead it gives a realistic portrayal of historical events as much as we can know them. This is especially true during the Medieval ages. It was a time rife with examples of religions committing heinous and cruel acts of violence against "non-believers", all in the name of God and Christianity. There are plenty of examples from history where many were converted to Christianity under duress through acts of violence, at a sword point, hanging, beheading, etc. The film takes great care not to go overboard with either the victims or villains portrayal and paints a very haunting picture of medieval France and the Crusades and the Cathar massacres.

The acting was very good across the board for the Medieval portion of the story (with some minor exceptions). Tom Felton as Viscount Trencavel delivered an especially passionate and spirited performance as a noble and charismatic leader of Carcassonne. Jessica Brown Findlay as medieval Alaïs Pelletier du Mas and Emun Elliott as her husband, Guilhem Du Mas brought a very evocative performance as well, making the ending of the story that much more powerful and tragic.

The beautiful soundtrack, scenery and landscapes, believable settings, good costuming along with strong performances all contributed to an engrossing story. Though occasionally slow, the thick as tar tension, atmosphere and believable acting keep the story moving forward and viewers invested in the events and characters.

Perhaps my only one but big complaint was the back and forth switching between medieval and modern times. It was distracting at times, and I did not feel the 2012 events connected well with the past. Some plot points felt contrite and forced to fit the events of 1209 Carcassonne. The whole modern time arch felt just thrown together, not nearly as interesting, and realistic as the past. As if instinctively sensing that the 2012 events really didn't belong in the series, the scriptwriter's and actors' performances and the characters' stories were uninspiring and not nearly as compelling and believable. The modern part of the story did not connect well with the medieval part and was too disjointed to be its own separate story. I just found it too hard to care for its characters. I wish they had focused exclusively on Cathars of medieval Carcassonne. It was a fascinating story, albeit a tragic one, that deserves more coverage.

If you have an interest in history in general or consider yourself a history savant, then grab a cup of soothing chamomile tea and watch the miniseries. I am giving this film a high rating solely based on the strength of the medieval story.

Love the Cathars, would be happy to have one for a neighbour. The concept of liberal Christians that believed in equality for all, accumulation of wealth was bad, sex was healthy and believed in reincarnation is very interesting. The fact that, in the 12/13th century, philosophically they were kicking the roman catholic churches butt says a lot. Tying that in with the holy grail and mixing it in with factual historical references gave this mini series a lot of scope. The reference to carrying our past with us in our blood is very reminiscent of Frank Herbert's Dune and the inference of a genetic memory.

However, the heavy handedness of the direction and use of cliché characters and tropes that did not make sense left me squirming in my seat. Especially in part 1 and the end of part II in the medieval period it felt as if the Cathars had some rabid twitter account saying "Dear bad guys guys want to know all our secrets?....". Yes we know it's the good guys against the bad guys but how come the bad guys seem to know more about what their counterparts are doing than they do? Damn you twitter account!!!

Speaking of which, I felt sorry for Katie McGrath who portrayed a cardboard cut out of her Morgana character in the Merlin series. She's a good looking woman and a fine actress but did she seriously have to lose her clothes so often? She was only one of many flat characters with trite dialogue. There is one scene where she can see someone shake his head in response to a question she asks when she is looking away from him. At this point I was also shaking my head as the dialogue/monologue leading up to this point felt like a quick fix to try to explain her motivation for being such a nasty piece of work and failing miserably.

When it came to the end it felt that I had only seen half the production. It felt as if a whole group of scenes had been cut out and re-spliced leaving me trying to figure how we got to F from A without B, C, D and E. If I'm being kind I would like to think that due to external pressures that a real cracker of a production is out there waiting to be shown at a future date.

As it was I found myself just becoming more frustrated as things made less and less sense. Even the role of the grail in the end becomes diminished except potentially as lesson teacher to humanity.

On the plus side Jessica Brown Findlay playing the medieval heroine was the closest to a fully formed character in the whole story and I'd like to see her in more roles. Production was good especially in the medieval scenes and the filming felt clean and slick. I now feel enlightened as I've had a chance to meet the Cathars, not to be confused with the Kardashians. Giving it 5 out of 10 as I feel like I only saw half of what could have been.

My wife had read the book and while she said it wasn't one of the author's best, it was good enough, so I gave this a go. I've found that sometimes weaker books from an author make better films than stronger ones, and while I was a little dubious of the subject matter, I thought I'd give it a go anyway.

What I got was a heap of fairly risible trash, with phoned in performances, some remarkably passionless bonking, a retread of the familiar "It's all a Catholic plot!" Grail stuff, and a curiously strong desire to persecute Cathars. Not on religious grounds, mind you, just for being annoying. It's a pain when you're several hundred years too late to join in the fun :(. I'm just rather disappointed, overall. It's full of actors that I like, so I disregarded the rather uncomplimentary heads-up from the Radio Times and plowed on with it, only to come out at the end with, well, nothing.

It's quite possible that the low reviews for this series are influenced by its religious themes. Yet the producers must have been aware of the risk. Religion can be a polarizing subject. Any misstep-real or perceived-could lead to backlash.

However, I see the religious elements as metaphors, similar to how the shark in Jaws represented more than just a predator. This series, like Jaws, is ultimately about human experience. Themes of fear, guilt, redemption, and existential questioning resonate on multiple levels. When viewed this way, the characters' struggles feel more real and profound.

I give the series a 6.5 not only for the engaging characters, but also for the courage shown by the series creators.

Oh dear. How sad. Never mind. Great book. Rubbish film. That just about sums it up for me. Having enjoyed the book so much I was really looking forward to this when I stumbled upon it in the Weekend TV Supplement, but where was the pre-publicity or trailers? Maybe the TV execs knew they had a turkey on their hands when they scheduled it on two consecutive nights over a long weekend when they knew that half the nation would be on holiday. It wasn't all bad - the screenplay was pretty close to the book, which is good, but at nearly 700 pages it is a big ask, and it has to be down to the screenwriter and director to put the story across in an accessible way, and on this occasion I think they have fallen short. The locations, lavish sets, costumes, and the star cast, were all great however. But something was lacking. I wish I could put my finger on it.It was all a bit clichéd. I know the body count was pretty high but there were far too many death-bed scenes when profound words are exchanged just before they croak and the eyes go north. I rarely criticise actors because they can only work with the material they are given but it would help if they could articulate a little more clearly. Without the help of subtitles (and having read the book) I would probably not have had a clue what was going on. Poor Jessica Findlay-Brown has an unfortunate speech defect that when she speaks quietly she breaks into a whisper every other syllable. Very distracting. And central casting please note - Tom Felton, fine actor though he is, does not have the physical presence or vocal gravitas to carry off the part of a warrior leader. And why was it necessary to cast Will as an American? This is a European story about European culture with European settings and characters. No need for a token American. This film will bomb in America anyway with their bite-size attention span. Can you imagine this complex storyline on American TV with adverts every five minutes? The audience will quickly lose the plot if not the will to live! Oh dear. How sad. Never mind. There, I've said it again.