The Green Knight (2021)

Back when I was taking classes for a Ph.D I never finished (long, dull story I will not retell here), I read the very old Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. That was for a class on Arthurian literature, much of it centuries old by authors often unknown. Despite the title, Arthur often plays a supporting role in these works with various of his knights doing all the questing and such. And, for whatever reason, before someone invented Lancelot, the most popular of those knights seemed to be Sir Gawain. His best known story is the one about the Green Knight, but that was only one of many. It’s a bit of an interesting story all told.

And someone made a movie out of it…OK, not for the first time, but this time around, it isn’t one starring the somewhat wooden actor Miles O’Keeffe. No, this one has the charming and talented Dev Patel, and after finally seeing him in that weird David Copperfield, I am all ready to see him in a weird movie about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

After a short introduction that says the story we are about to hear is not about the boy who pulled the sword from the stone, complete with an Arthur effigy bursting into flames, we meet Gawain (Patel). He’s, by his own admission, not quite a knight. He’s also perhaps not the most mature fellow around, skipping church to hang out with his lover from the looks of things, but it’s Christmas, and he is expected to go to the King’s for the festivities. His mother (Sarita Choudhury) is staying behind, and the unnamed King (Sean Harris) is her brother and Gawain’s uncle.

Now, I don’t think I have ever seen anything where Gawain was Arthur’s nephew, but even if this isn’t the boy who pulled the sword from the stone, there are plenty of Arthur shout-outs. Gawain’s mother sure does look like Morgan Le Fay in certain ways, the king’s table is round, and his sword, when he draws it, is clearly held as special. There’s even this silent bearded man people defer to in his few appearances that, perhaps, was Merlin. But really, this isn’t Arthur’s story. It’s Gawain’s. So, moving on…

During the height of the festivities, a giant Green Knight (Ralph Ineson) rides in. He issues a general challenge: he will allow anyone brave enough to strike a blow against him, but any injury he receives must be taken in return one year from then. The king would, but he is an old man and not fit for a fight. Gawain volunteers, and though the Green Knight isn’t even trying to fight back and a simple cut on the cheek would suffice, Gawain smites the mysterious man’s head off. At which point, the body gets up, picks up and the head, reminds Gawain of his promise, and rides off laughing. In almost one year’s time, Gawain rides off to fulfill his promise, all in a quest for honor, and as he sometimes reminds people, still not a knight.

Now, this is one weird movie. Magic is real, and Gawain believes in it. I strongly suspect writer/director David Lowery mixed in some other stories that may or may not have involved Gawain, but that’s beside the point. It’s a little difficult to pin down a lot of things, like how much various people know or don’t know about what’s really going on. There are sections that suggest that magic and witchcraft is more connected to nature, something that looks very true given how the Green Knight appears to be part tree, and one of the many places Gawain passes through is what looks like a field that was until very recently a vast forest. The “green chapel” Gawain is supposed to find is, according to one character, just a forest itself.

But perhaps the real thing here is something that comes from the original story: Gawain must find his honor. For much of the movie, Gawain may talk of honor, but it’s doubtful how much he actually has. He’s immature, and at one point asks a question that not only should no knight ask, but he’s directly told as much. For Gawain to finally be honorable and become a knight, he’ll need honor. So, what exactly is honor and how does someone like Gawain actually get it? Does he really need to quite literally lose his head because, unlike the Green Knight, he can’t really put his head back on later.

Just on a note: this is a movie that is really open to interpretation. It’s odd, and there are a few mysteries the movie doesn’t really answer. I don’t know that being familiar with the original poem makes it better or worse (obviously, knowing the poem, I can’t answer whether it would work as well as it did for someone who doesn’t know it), but I did dig the hell out of this surreal walk through a Medieval fantasy realm where magic and chivalry are still things, and one young man just has to learn to deal with it.

Grade: A