Gandhi (1982)

Anytime an actor seems to become another real person in film, he or she tends to be rewarded with the one of the best acting awards for that year. Ben Kingsley did so when he played Gandhi.

Gandhi was a lawyer and gave up the profession to help lead India to their independence from Britain. He also was a believer in peace and equality. He was a typical Libra, which is always a good thing (I know because I am one as well).

The movie clocks in at over 3 hours long. Best Picture winners tend to be super long movies. The movie begins with Gandhi's assassination and then goes back to tell the story of his life. It is always amazing to me that people who promote peace or are non-violent people seem to meet death through acts of violence. MLK is another example of this scenario.

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

Prior to watching The Tudors, my only knowledge of Thomas More was that he wrote Utopia. It was a book that I had to read and report about in my World Civilizations class in college.

Years later I got caught up in the story of the Tudor dynasty and the serial-marrying man, Henry VIII. Back in the time of the Tudors, hell, even now in some parts of the world, having a son is the greatest thing a man can accomplish. Henry VIII married his older brother's widow. They got the Pope to swear Henry's bride-to-be had never had carnal relations with the brother so it was okay with the Catholic Church that they marry.

Well, poor Katherine of Aragon managed to get pregnant several times but the only child to survive was a daughter. For an ego-maniac like Henry VIII, that was just not going to cut it. So the formerly devout Catholic king starts insisting that because it says in the Bible that a man shall not take his brother's wife, their marriage is cursed and God is punishing them with no sons. Truth be told, Henry was obsessed with Anne Boelyn and she wouldn't put out until Henry put a ring on her finger.

So Henry asks the Pope to grant him a divorce from Katherine because he feels the marriage was never legitimate anyway. There is just one problem - Catholics and divorce do not mix. Thomas More and a great many British subjects love Katherine and feel Henry is going too far. When the Pope refuses to grant a divorce, Henry just starts his own church. Men in lust will do anything. He has his church say his marriage was never valid and clears the way to marry Miss Boelyn.

To an insult to injury, Henry makes all the British subjects, including his former Queen and their daughter, swear their allegiance to Queen Anne and that any children she bears are the rightful heirs to the throne. Thomas More is one of those who refuses to take the oath so he is tried and executed for it. He was made a saint 400 years later so as far as Catholics go, he went straight to the top.

Henry went on to be kind of a joke, at least in my humble opinion. When Anne Boelyn was only able to provide a living daughter, he had lies created about her that resulted in her head being severed. His third wife died giving birth to his precious male heir. But Henry did not stop there. He agreed to a political marriage to a woman he saw only in a portrait. After meeting her, he decided she wasn't pretty enough for him. This coming from a man that looked like Fat Bastard by this time. He then marries a teenager that is also sleeping with one of her distant relatives. Henry has her killed and moves on to the sixth and final wife. Catherine Parr was lucky enough to have Henry die while married to her or she probably would have been disposed of for some reason or another too. Although, this Catherine did die not long after Henry. She died giving birth to her next husband's child.

The wonderful irony of the Tudors family is that the only male heir was sickly and died young. After Jane Grey, the daughter from the first marriage became Queen. By that time she had become slightly unbalanced and started killing those who were now not Catholics. When she died in her 40s, her half-sister, Anne Boelyn's daughter, took over. Elizabeth I ruled for almost 45 years. Girl Power! Elizabeth I was loved by her people and was the ruler during the whole Spanish Armada thing. Maybe fathers should be a little more proud of their daughters. Because let's face it, the women usually outlive the men.