The Mighty
1999; Scriptoriun Press; Volume: 9; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/art.1999.0062
ISSN1934-1539
Autores Tópico(s)Linguistics and language evolution
ResumoREVIEWS165 'Only a fool wants war,' Derfel acknowledges, 'but once a war starts...it must be waged with a savage joy in defeating the enemy, and it is that savage joy that inspires our bards to write their greatest songs about love and war' (Excalibur 192). Cornwell's achievement is to capture that sense ofsavage joy that inspires these DarkAge warriors. It is demonstrated in the grim humour that marks the ritual exchange ofinsults prior to combat and, most strikingly, in combat itself. 'It is the beguiling glory of war,' Derfel records, 'the sheer exhilaration of breaking a shield wall and slaking a sword on a hated enemy. I watched Arthur, a man as kind as any I have known, and saw nothing but joy in his eyes. Galahad, who prayed each day that he could obey Christ's commandment to love all men, was now killing them with terrible efficiency. Culhwch was roaring insults. . .while Taliesin was singing as he killed the enemy wounded left behind by our advancing shield wall. You do not win the fight of the shield wall by being sensible and moderate, but by a Godlike rush of howling madness' (Excalibur 4*3)· Cornwell's trilogy reverses the recent emphasis in Arthurian fiction upon the domestic complications that ultimately undermine Arthur's achievements and lead to the downfall of Britain. To those who might consider this version ofevents to be as unsophisticated as its narrator, the author provides his own defence in Guinevere's advice to bards: 'Bard chants to bard while the rest of us wonder what all the noise is about. Your task. . .is to keep the people's stories alive, and to do that you cannot be to rarefied. . ..I would have you be vulgar with the vulgar, and clever with the clever,...and both, mark you, at the same time' (Excalibur 160). Cornwell's story ofArthur takes time to unfold, but it grows more involving as it does and it captures the heroic spirit and fierceness found in the earliest tales. While the emphasis upon war may not be to everyone's taste, the story is well told, the pace exhilarating, and there are moments oftrue power. RAYMOND H. THOMPSON Acadia University The Mighty, peter chelsom, dir., Miramax Films, 1997. 107 minutes. Recently released in theaters, The Mighty is a film based on the young reader's novel Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick. Though it is a contempotary story and in spite of its PG-13 rating, the movie is a pleasant surprise with Arthurian references which nearly steal the show. Bigger name stars Sharon Stone, Gillian Anderson, Gena Rowlands, and Harry Dean Stanton form an understated supporting cast for the two younger protagonists. Played with reserve and thoughtfulness by Eiden Henson (from The Mighty Ducks films) and Kieran Culkin (who appears with his better knows brother Macauley in the Home Alone movies), The Mighty is a story about two outcast seventh graders in gritty South Cincinnati, Ohio. The first is Maxwell Kane (Henson), a giant ofa boy who has withdrawn from the world. Selfconscious about his size and traumatized at an early age by having witnessed his father murder his mother, he is labeled first a mute then later as learning disabled. l66ARTHURIANA Max seeks only to avoid human contact. The other, Kevin Dillon (Culkin), is Max's exact opposite. A bright, outgoing sort, who is trapped in a twisted, shrunken body, Kevin is dying from a degenerative disease. With crutches and leg braces, he jokes about his own robotic appearance. Thrown together when the school assigns Kevin as Max's reading tutor, the two eventually become fast friends. As a first reading project Kevin gives Max his own tattered copy of King Arthur and His Knights by James Knowles. Kevin's ideation of the Arthurian principles of chivalry becomes the basis for the boys' experiences on the streets of the run-down neighborhood in which they live. His love of books and reading, which he gradually transmits to Max, is an underlying theme to the whole film. By the same token, a spontaneous impulse on the part of the big-hearted Max creates the physical manifestation of the...
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