The Green Knight Review
The Green Knight is a beautifully thought-provoking piece that will challenge audience’s understanding of what it means to be honorable.
I think it is safe to say that The Green Knight isn’t your mama’s Arthurian tale. The film is a medieval story of knights and honor, but you’ll be sorely disappointed if you expect to find the traditional tropes glamorized in similar productions. There are no armored clad sword duels, no damsels in distress in need of saving, and no quest with a prize at the end of its journey.
If being honest, The Green Knight won’t be for everyone. It is a slow burn of a watch, one that favors deep character exploration over action sequences. But, for those looking for a destruction of the hero’s journey featuring a flawed wannabe anti-hero struggling to reconcile his societal standing with his debaucherous ways, then you are at the right round table for the holidays.
Written and directed by indie stalwart David Lowery, The Green Knight is an adaptation of a 14th-century poem titled Sir Gawain and the Green Knight- a seminal piece of Arthurian literature whose origins and author remain a mystery to this day. In the poem, the titular Green Knight visits King Author’s court on Christmas to challenge the king’s famed knights to a friendly game. One of them may strike the knight with his axe, but the knight will return the blow next Christmas. Arthur’s nephew, the young Gawain, accepts the challenge, setting himself on a quest to prove his honor.
Lowery’s versions, more or less, follow the same general plot as its source material, though featuring a few vital difference that creates a darker version of the source material. Here, Gawain (Dev Patel), not yet a knight, isn’t quite what you would describe as honorable. He drinks all day and spends all night in the local brothel with his lover, Essel (Alicia Vikander). He doesn’t have any stories of chivalry and continues to disappoint his mother, enchantress Morgan le Fay (Sarita Choudhury), with his choices.
In some ways, Gawain feels like the quintessential millennial stereotype- a privileged young person who wants the fame of his supposed stature without doing any of the work. That is what makes the Green Knights’ proposal so appealing to him. With one swing of the sword, he instantly becomes a legend whose story children revel in across the kingdom, even as he continues to drink his life away.
As a character, Gawain is deplorable and should be someone the audience hates. He cares more about looking like he is doing the right thing than actually doing the right thing. In one scene, the ghost of a murdered woman visits him, asking for help. His response is to ask for what he gets in return, a constant retort from the would-be knight. In another sequence, Gawain becomes intimate with the Lady (also played by Alicia Vilkander) of a castle in exchange for a green girdle to protect from harm while failing to honor a deal made with the castle’s lord (Joel Edgerton). Simply put, Gawain is not a good person and wouldn’t know how to be one even if he tried.
Despite all his character flaws, though, I found myself rooting for Gawain to find redemption in the end. Perhaps the best decision Lowery made for the entire film was to cast Dev Patel as Gawain. Patel presents Gawain in a tragedically sad way, portraying him as someone overcome by the crushing pressure of living up to the expectations set forth by his standing in life. Underneath the selfishness and dishonorable tendencies is a man unsure if he is worthy of the life he thinks he wants. It’s a compelling portrayal that evokes sympathy for a seemingly unredeemable character.
The Green Knight is an ambitious film with some lofty goals. But, whatever stress the ambition causes is never felt in Lowery’s writing or directing. He is keenly aware of the world he is building and the characters that reside in it. Lowery never strays from the message, honing in on the themes of honor and, to a lesser extent, environmentalism by creating a dreary tapestry that perfectly juxtaposes Gawain’s internal struggles with his external presence in the world. Lowery’s efforts lead to a film that feels tonally different from its counterparts in a genre that hasn’t had anything new to say for quite some time.
In the end, The Green Knight won’t be for all audiences. But those willing to engage in conversation with the film will find a beautifully thought-provoking piece that will challenge their understanding of what it means to be honorable.
