Required Viewing

My wife and I just finished watching A Man For All Seasons, the film-based account of the last years of Sir Thomas More‘s life. While slightly fictionalized, the movie seems to hew fairly closely to the actual historical events surrounding More’s principled stand against King Henry VIII’s attempts to have the Pope sanction his divorce from Catherine of Aragon which, when they failed, propted Henry to deny the authority of the Pope (and thereby the Catholic Church itself) and sever all ties to the Church. More, a devout Catholic, objected to these actions and refused to endorse the King’s actions and was eventually executed for his “treason”.
While this might not sound like the most intriguing basis for a movie, let me assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. I found A Man For All Seasons to be extremely moving and even inspirational. More’s staunch refusal to compromise his essential ideals was even a bit convicting, as I have to say that were I faced with a similar set of circumstances, I would be extremely tempted to fold and thus spare my own life. Perhaps it’s just me being weird, but I always come out of these sorts of movies feeling convicted and aspiring to emulate the heroic and selfless actions of the movies’ protagonists. A Man For All Seasons was no different in this regard.
I can’t emphasize this enough: hit Netflix, go to Blockbuster, do whatever you have to do, but make an effort to see this movie at some point in the near future.