Good Epic & Romantic Film with Plenty of Action

Rating: Null/10 (3 April 2003)

Good film at 3 hours duration. Like any film of similar length that intends to keep audience attention, there are slow parts and fast parts. There's drama, and there's action. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines romantic as "marked by the imaginative or emotional appeal of what is heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious, or idealized." That makes this a romantic film.
Both drama and action are well spaced. The action is often fast with quick camera angle changes and short closeups, along with camera movement that adds to the live-action effect, giving a feeling of being there. The drama has plenty of conflicts which enhance the human element. The emotions soar and dive, and not all goes as one would like, much like life, but the human spirit survives to the end.
This is a film for entertainment and I've made no effort to confirm or refute the historical accuracy of any part of it. As all historical films, we know the eventual outcome of it's subject before the screening. However, this film is only a slice of the whole story and the method of telling this slice, the choices in subplots, characters, character players, direction and camera work, make it well worth the time invested in the viewing. This is a very good film.