King
Arthur’s Britain (Documentary)
Picture: B- Sound:
B- Extras: C
Film: B-
Originally titled Britain A.D., King Arthur’s
Britain is a three-part documentary is concerned far more with the
historical period of post-Roman Britain, traditionally called The Dark Ages,
than it is with the legends of King Arthur. Arthur is mentioned in
passing in each episode, but more as a touchstone and jumping off place than
anything else. It’s apparent the good king’s name was added to the title
to capitalize on last years movie and the fact that in the general pubic there
is more interest in King Arthur than in archeology.
That said it is a very good documentary. Anyone with
an interest in Arthur has some interest in the time period he represents, a
time period of which we have far more myth and legend than actual written
documentation. This program attempts to show through archeological
evidence that our commonly accepted view of the Dark Ages is in fact,
wrong. History has long said that after
the Roman Empire withdrew from Great Britain in the first third of the fifth
century, the country fell into ruin.
All semblance of civilization quickly disappeared to be
replaced with chaos and barbarism, setting the stage for a massive invasion
from the European continent by a group of people known collectively as the
Saxons. The documentary compellingly
shows that the archeological evidence simply doesn’t support this claim.
Invasions of this scale leave evidence of battles and sudden changes in
language and culture.
What the archeologists have discovered points more toward
a long-term migration and assimilation.
There is evidence of long-term settlements, ones that predate the Romans
and continue to exist during their occupation and well after they have gone. There are Roman-like villas full of British
culture, indicating the natives learned from the Romans and continued building
in this fashion after they left. The castles that line the Saxon shore,
long thought to exist to repel invaders, exhibit more characteristics of
commerce than of warfare, signifying they conducted more trade with the
continent than conflict.
The 1.33 X 1 image originates from professional analog PAL
videotape and is just fine, as is the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, which does not
have any surrounds. Except for some
text extras, you only get the program itself, but that’s not bad. Acorn Media has added one of the better
Arthur DVDs to the market to date, even if the title is a tad misleading.
Were there battles? Certainly. Anytime two
cultures overlap and land and resources are in short supply there is bound to
be conflict. But the evidence of a mass invasion simply doesn’t appear to
exist. Great Britain would have to wait for several hundred more years
for the Normans to accomplish that.
- Wayne Wise
Wayne Wise is a native
of Southwestern Pennsylvania currently residing in Pittsburgh. He has earned a Masters degree in clinical
psychology and undergraduate degrees in psychology and history. He has worked as a freelance journalist for
over nine years. In 1993, he co-created
a comic book called Grey Legacy.
In 2002 his first novel, King of Summer, was
published. You can go to www.wayne-wise.com and learn more.
