Philippa Langley instigated an exhumation project of the highest order: the discovery and exhumation of a late medieval English king, in this case, King Richard III. This film chronicles, more or less, Langley's determination to find the remains of Richard III, the last of the Plantagenet monarchs who lost his battle against King Henry VII at Bosworth Field in 1485. My admiration for Langley stems largely from her finding primary sources overlooked by medieval scholars. At nearly every turn, scholars dismissed her objective because they were convinced this was territory which had been thoroughly researched. Langley proved there were gaps in the historical record.
Her main motivation to find Richard III's grave: to right the wrongs of what she and the Richard III Society label as largely Tudor propaganda supposedly instigated in the 16th-century to smear Richard's name. The famous (or infamous) Shakespeare play depicts Richard as an evil hunchback. (Even though I largely disagree with the core beliefs of the society, I can relate being a member of two societies who do not believe William of Stratford wrote the plays attributed to William Shakespeare.)
I think the main point of the film is not Richard himself but the determination and perseverance of Langley to find Richard's remains. She found sources somewhat overlooked by scholars and hypothesized his remains were buried under a car park in the city of Leicester in England (Americans take note: it's pronounced "lester"). The discovery did not prove that Richard III hadn't ordered the assassination of the two young princes, the eldest still in history books named as King Edward V. (King Henry VIII's sickly son would become King Edward VI.) This assessment of King Richard III is still largely agreed upon by scholars, despite the efforts of the King Richard Society.
Generally a moving and remarkable movie. My only little quarrel is Langley, played by Sally Hawkins in a remarkable performance, sees the apparition of Richard III. Apparently, the artistic license represents the real Langley having self-talks about the project, and imagined herself having conversations with Richard III's ghost. But she never had visions of him and this aspect of seeing his ghost is not in the book "The King's Grave: The Search for Richard III" co-written by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones.
That said still a moving and brilliant film. Should Richard III have been interred with monarchical honors? My answer is yes. Even though he probably had the princes murdered he did become a legitimate king. So many of the most fascinating figures "usurped" the English crown beginning with William the Conqueror. Another example: Henry of Bolingbroke had little claim to the crown which he took from King Richard II, a direct descendant of King Edward III, famous for his battles in the 100 Years War against France with his eldest son Edward the Black Prince. (At the time, everyone thought Prince Edward would become Edward IV, but died in battle before the death of his father.)
Hats and crowns off to Philippa Langley who did what everyone said couldn't be done. Her triumph shows there is still a lot of undiscovered history out there and history continues to be "rewritten". Even though professional scholars have contributed much, it shows there is still much more and there may yet be further discoveries which discredit accepted history.
Her main motivation to find Richard III's grave: to right the wrongs of what she and the Richard III Society label as largely Tudor propaganda supposedly instigated in the 16th-century to smear Richard's name. The famous (or infamous) Shakespeare play depicts Richard as an evil hunchback. (Even though I largely disagree with the core beliefs of the society, I can relate being a member of two societies who do not believe William of Stratford wrote the plays attributed to William Shakespeare.)
I think the main point of the film is not Richard himself but the determination and perseverance of Langley to find Richard's remains. She found sources somewhat overlooked by scholars and hypothesized his remains were buried under a car park in the city of Leicester in England (Americans take note: it's pronounced "lester"). The discovery did not prove that Richard III hadn't ordered the assassination of the two young princes, the eldest still in history books named as King Edward V. (King Henry VIII's sickly son would become King Edward VI.) This assessment of King Richard III is still largely agreed upon by scholars, despite the efforts of the King Richard Society.
Generally a moving and remarkable movie. My only little quarrel is Langley, played by Sally Hawkins in a remarkable performance, sees the apparition of Richard III. Apparently, the artistic license represents the real Langley having self-talks about the project, and imagined herself having conversations with Richard III's ghost. But she never had visions of him and this aspect of seeing his ghost is not in the book "The King's Grave: The Search for Richard III" co-written by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones.
That said still a moving and brilliant film. Should Richard III have been interred with monarchical honors? My answer is yes. Even though he probably had the princes murdered he did become a legitimate king. So many of the most fascinating figures "usurped" the English crown beginning with William the Conqueror. Another example: Henry of Bolingbroke had little claim to the crown which he took from King Richard II, a direct descendant of King Edward III, famous for his battles in the 100 Years War against France with his eldest son Edward the Black Prince. (At the time, everyone thought Prince Edward would become Edward IV, but died in battle before the death of his father.)
Hats and crowns off to Philippa Langley who did what everyone said couldn't be done. Her triumph shows there is still a lot of undiscovered history out there and history continues to be "rewritten". Even though professional scholars have contributed much, it shows there is still much more and there may yet be further discoveries which discredit accepted history.