The Green Knight (2021)

Getting Ahead for Christmas

or

Won't You Tell Me What's Gawain On...

 

I'm a big fan of the works of director David Lowery (Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Pete's Dragon, A Ghost Story, The Old Man and the Gun) which are diverse and visually strong and striking. He makes movies that respect viewers and give them something lovely to look at and something to chew on. They're not exactly "easy sells" for the studios, but with The Green Knight, we're getting as close to a super-hero movie as Lowery is ever going to get.

 

And it's a stunner.

 

It's the old Arthurian legend, "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" written 700 years ago by an anonymous scribe, who tells the story of a young knight-lite, who accepts the challenge of a Christmas intruder at Camelot, and, in a year's time, must pay the price of retribution.

 

It's a story about honor and self-sacrifice, which is also a tough sell at the box-office these days.

But Lowery has taken the basic frame-work, done a lot of research, read the interpretations (like Tolkien's) and put a spin on it that has been there all along, but folks might not have recognized because they were concentrating on the men-folk.

At the time of the film's beginning, Gawain (Dev Patel) is hardly a noble knight, rarely spending time at the court of Camelot, although King Arthur (Sean Harris) is his Uncle, and, instead, holding his own court at the local brothel, where his regular partner is Essel (Alicia Vikander). She loves Gawain, but is quite aware of their difference in stations. Indeed, when she suggests that nothing would make her happier than being his lady, Gawain responds with silence.

Visiting his mother, Morgan le Fay (Sarita Choudhury), on Christmas, she gives him grief for not attending the King's holiday feast and he relents, only to find that the King requests him to sit by his side during the proceedings. Quite an honor, but why? Unbeknownst to Gawain or anyone else, his Mother has been performing a ritual in her tower, which may or may not have produced a guest at the gate. A gnarled, wood-veined figure, The Green Knight, rides on horseback into the hall full of royalty, knights and the famous round table, with a challenge.

Is there any knight so bold and so brave to take him on in a fight? But, before you answer, there's a catch: Should that knight survive, in a year's time, he is beholdened to travel to the Green Chapel, where whatever blow the strange figure has received will be reciprocated in kind. Gawain accepts the challenge and the King hands him Excalibur for the task. To Gawain's surprise, the Green Knight kneels and bears his neck...and Gawain chops off his head with one swift stroke.

But the Green Knight does not die. He picks up his head, reminds Gawain of his obligation and leaves...laughing. The die is cast. The challenge is clear. It is not so much besting the Green Knight as it is making good on the promise to accept the fate that awaits him and keep his appointment. With (as the film's chapter title says) a "too-quick year"'s anticipation of the event, he who undertakes the journey to the Green Chapel must truly be a brave knight...and a man of his word. But, is that Gawain? He hasn't demonstrated such nobility before.

Arthur has something to say about it: "I don't know any great man to march to death before his time...do not waste this." And so, Gawain sets out to make his way to The Green Chapel. For the journey, his mother braids a girdle that, she says, will prevent any harm to him while he wears it. That doesn't guarantee, of course, that he will be completely safe. Along the way, he is robbed of his horse, the Green Knight's battle-axe, and the girdle, and left bound and gagged while the robbers caper off.

It is here that we see a neat visual story-telling trick from Lowery cluing us in to the sort of man Gawain is—and giving us a better handle on the story he's trying to tell. The director's camera circles the woods where Gawain is helpless and once we've made the full revolution, we come across him again—a full skeleton left to rot. Circle again and Gawain is there, still alive, flesh AND bone, but now, with the vision of what could be if he does not act, he painfully crawls along the ground to his sword in order to attempt to cut his bonds.

Lowery will pull this idea again, later in the film, showing us an alternative future should Gawain falter, and that he has a choice to make if he is to succeed in his quest. He is not an instinctual knight, of pure thought, bold, brave and chivalric. He can go either way, and it is his choice that will decide his fate, to take action and do the right thing, the honorable thing, the sacrificial thing, the knightly thing.

On his journey he will meet a ghost (and do it a kindness), encounter giants and trust their counsel, meet a companionable fox, and encounter a castle that offers welcome, but also a tempting means of escape. But, he goes on, rewarded by his trials by getting back all that was taken from him.

It's a weird, fantastical tale, told with simple, startling images that are in danger of distracting from the story's point: given a choice, would we do what is right, what is noble, or would we chicken out, be weak, give in to our baser instincts, or be lazy slobs and not disciplined, principled actors. It's a question that we should put before all of us, if we have the wherewithall to listen, to admit that we might be wrong, might be weak, and that we can do better, whether it's not to cut someone off in traffic, or withhold that snarky tweet, or consider the fate of others as we would our own.

 

Gawain is put to the test. So are we all, even if we bear no armor, wield no axe, and will never have poetry written about us.