Thursday, September 18, 2008

The other girl

Contrary to what she thinks, The Other Boleyn Girl is not (entirely) a fiction. Maybe the movie gave too much impression of high class drama of scandals, that it was unimaginable that such incidents could have taken place during that kind of time.

Boleyn sisters in fact was in the English history, and both bedded Henry VII.
But for Mary, not so much was noted from her as compared to the other Boleyn girl, Anne.

This Anne was the mother of Queen Elizabeth, though she was executed when Elizabeth was only three years old for high-treason, incest and adultery.


Which Elizabeth are we talking about? The one with the Golden Age, yes the one who had famously defeated the Spanish Armada, the last of the Tudors and the Queen who died a virgin.
Ye, the one which Cate Blanchett (my favourite leading lady) plays Elizabeth in the same-titled movie


What transpired according to the history text books, was that the banishment of Catherine had got nothing to do with Anne directly, though it is true that King Henry was besotted with Anne.

The King after six times of failed pregnancies believed his marriage with Catherine was cursed, because he had married his dead brother's (Arthur) wife Catherine. While Catherine swore that her marriage with Arthur was never consummated, the King had the chance to marry Anne on the grounds that Catherine had lied to him, as proven by the heir-less marriage.

Henry on the prospect of not having an heir to the throne, while the Tudor reign was relatively new, had made his marriage to Catherine annulled, by rejecting Pope's decision hence denying the Pope's authority, to marry Anne, where the trouble with the Catholic church started to brew.

Bla bla. Histories.
Though in the movie the spotlight is more towards the Boleyn whores, and to the faultless Mary, I still pity Catherine. Mary was betrayed by her own sister but, she was a married woman when she slept with the King. Haiya.

The movie pays homage to the relationship of the two sisters being shaken and tried for the love of a King, and it sends shivers down my spine thinking about how can the father sell the daughters for wealth and position, how can a husband let his bride sleep with other man, how can a sister asked her own brother to have an incestuous relationship to save her throne, how can a King lets himself being overpowered by the whims and fancy of one girl in spite of his family..what people do for power and quick wealth.. endless questions of morality disturbed my mind as I drive myself home...

At the end of the movie, the flashback of the young Boleyn family reminds me of this song:


I still remember the world
From the eyes of a child
Slowly those feelings
Were clouded by what I know now

Where has my heart gone
An uneven trade for the real world
Oh I... I want to go back to
Believing in everything and knowing nothing at all

I still remember the sun
Always warm on my back
Somehow it seems colder now

Where has my heart gone
Trapped in the eyes of a stranger
Oh I... I want to go back to
Believing in everything

[Latin hymn:]
Iesu, Rex admirabilis
Et triumphator nobilis,
Dulcedo ineffabilis,
Totus desiderabilis.

9 comments:

midnight blue eyed 18 September 2008 at 11:56:00 GMT+8  

history lesson 101.thank god for the drama,or else it would be as dry as the numbers in the dates.ye tak?

Anonymous,  18 September 2008 at 12:48:00 GMT+8  

and you my dear, cannot be a historian because u're sympathetic towards one party,making you a biased history writer.

makcik glamer farrah fawcett

amicus curiae 18 September 2008 at 14:02:00 GMT+8  

eh bukan ke every history is written based on biased sympathies..

well,history is not only numbers,but for every numbers there are dramas..ecece.

Anonymous,  19 September 2008 at 11:31:00 GMT+8  

biased sympathies,my dear,is redundant already.more reasons you're a terrible historian.

bukan fara fauzana

Girl Behind A Shadow 23 September 2008 at 12:22:00 GMT+8  

The book is far more interesting than the movie. There were some changes in the movie. But the movie is not that bad though some rather substantial plots and storyline were changed.

Enjoyed both though. And yes I was really worried of the corrupt morals of the family.

amicus curiae 23 September 2008 at 12:55:00 GMT+8  

haven't read the book,but u know what they always say: books are always better than the muvi.

but historically,ada sikit je lain.cumanya the bastard son takde kot.

scary sangat the boleyn family.only the mother is OK.

amicus curiae 23 September 2008 at 12:57:00 GMT+8  

fara
i am not a historian,even if i am, that'll make me a good historian because I have a stand.

histories are always from one point of view whaat.

Anonymous,  25 September 2008 at 13:33:00 GMT+8  

watched it recently!

ya i liked the mother. she tried to stand up for her children although tak berjaya.

liked the climax masa diorang dah betul2 porak-peranda, when anne and the brother (jim sturgess! siapa dah tgk the movie 21?) are about to be executed for incest, pastu mak dia jerit "my children!" and slapped her husband. Too late though.

amicus curiae 4 October 2008 at 21:02:00 GMT+8  

ala za,as if she can change anything.women were always the second subject of any opinion during that time,the whore of a father and uncles' opinion seems to hold on its own.just because they were men.


"rabbana hablana min azwajina wa zuriyatina qurratu a'yun..wa jaalna lil muttaqina imama" ameen.

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