# An accurate movie set in the Middle Ages? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 21, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136 "2005-06-21T00:04:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/21 "2005-06-21T16:39:18Z")
What about “The Advocate” (with Colin Firth)? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/22 "2005-06-21T16:50:46Z")
I can’t remember anythign glaringly wrong with the _13th Warrior_. Avoid \*Black Knight \* at all costs. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/23 "2005-06-21T16:53:31Z")
So the 1950’s “Ivanhoe” is right out? Pity, great movie. “Timeline” had some really good elements about it, if you could ignore the time travelling college students. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/24 "2005-06-21T17:09:05Z")
“History goes to the Movies” (1999, J. Roquemore) seems to suggest The Vikings and The Warlord (although he agrees that the movie got " _jus primae noctis_" wrong, but so did Braveheart.) ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/25 "2005-06-21T17:28:58Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > I can’t remember anythign glaringly wrong with the _13th Warrior_. I don’t know if you are being sarcastic, but I really enjoy that movie. “Lo, there do I see my Father…” “Don’t worry, Little Brother, there’s more!” Great stuff, even if Bandaras isn’t Arabic. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/26 "2005-06-21T17:47:17Z")
Since this is about films, I’ll move this thread to Cafe Society. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/27 "2005-06-21T17:48:27Z")
[QUOTE=kidchameleon] I can’t remember anythign glaringly wrong with the _13th Warrior_. It was an enjoyable movie but the costumes were totally wrong. The warriors’ armour ranged from 700 years before the period (Roman gladiator helmet on one guy) to 500 years after (Several guys had 15th c. armor). Not at all accurate. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/28 "2005-06-21T17:50:30Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > I wouldn’t use the term “realistic” with any other Robin Hood story I would. There is a version starring Patrick Bergen and Uma Thurman. It’s probably the best movie I know for getting the look and feel of the early middle ages right. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/29 "2005-06-21T18:57:55Z")
Another French movie, albeit harder to find than _Le retour de Martin Guerre_ is [La Passion Béatrice](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093709/) (1987) [aka _The Passion of Beatrice_ or just _Beatrice_]. It’s brutal and disturbing, but is considered to be very historically accurate and has a wonderful performance by Julie Delpy – who was only 17 at the time – in the title role. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/30 "2005-06-21T18:58:30Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Since this is about films, I’ll move this thread to Cafe Society. > > bibliophage > moderator GQ Thanks for the box… ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/31 "2005-06-21T18:59:47Z")
I saw a movie called “The Anchoress” in Mid. Lit. class. It looked rather accurate. Particulary the church in the end which was rather dark and bare. And probably not as accurate, but no doubt dirty enough, Paul Verhovans “Flesh and Blood”, which is a fun little movie. Rather dark as well. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/32 "2005-06-21T19:04:14Z")
> [@Antonius Block](#): > > Another French movie, albeit harder to find than _Le retour de Martin Guerre_ is [La Passion Béatrice](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093709/) (1987) [aka _The Passion of Beatrice_ or just _Beatrice_]. > > It’s brutal and disturbing, but is considered to be very historically accurate and has a wonderful performance by Julie Delpy – who was only 17 at the time – in the title role. I thought about this one too, but I assumed it was too obscure a french movie to be worth mentionning on an american board. As for being historically accurate, once again I couldn’t tell. It looks so, but not being a specialist, what would I know… And disturbing, indeed… ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/33 "2005-06-21T19:12:54Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > “History goes to the Movies” (1999, J. Roquemore) seems to suggest The Vikings and The Warlord (although he agrees that the movie got " _jus primae noctis_" wrong, but so did Braveheart.) Wouldn’t any reference to it at all be getting it wrong, as it’s basically an urban history legend? ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/34 "2005-06-21T19:13:04Z")
[_Andrei Rublev_](http://www.museikino.ru/eng/exebit/tark/films/ar/ar.asp) is quite accurate in setting, costuming, and main historical events, even though it had to make up most of what Rublev did, as we know next to nothing about his life. But it shows quite well what life was like in medieval Russia under the Mongol yoke, and also got quite a few details right that would only be apparent to an Eastern liturgical weenie like myself. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/35 "2005-06-21T19:41:55Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Wouldn’t any reference to it at all be getting it wrong, as it’s basically an urban history legend? FWIW, I had a history professor tell the class that there was one historically accurate moment in the film. Apparently, Longshanks actually _did_ throw his son’s lover to his death from a window. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/36 "2005-06-21T19:56:19Z")
> [@Cheez\_Whia](#): > > FWIW, I had a history professor tell the class that there was one historically accurate moment in the film. Apparently, Longshanks actually _did_ throw his son’s lover to his death from a window. I’m sceptical. If you’re talking about Piers Gaveston, he outlived Edward I by five years. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/37 "2005-06-21T19:58:32Z")
Sorry,I don’t have a cite, merely reporting what my history professor told us in class. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/38 "2005-06-21T19:59:28Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > I was also going to say _Jabberwocky_. It’s probably one of the most accurate movies ever made about how the middle ages actually looked. And smelled. Maybe not really but it doesn’t take much imagination to smell the Middle Ages while watching it. ---
**Author:** ![Selkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Selkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Selkie)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/39 "2005-06-21T20:06:12Z")
Not in a position to judge whether it is accurate, but [The Reckoning](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258816/) certainly _feels_ accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136/40 "2005-06-21T20:12:26Z")
_Girl with a Pearl Earring_ looks pretty accurate. People do have objections to its characterization of Johannes Vermeer and his wife though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-accurate-movie-set-in-the-middle-ages/309136.md?page=3)