Excellent depiction of Catalina the Aragonese

Rating: 7/10 (3 July 2008)

The historical accuracy of this movie is a surprising departure from typical Hollywood revisionist standards. I was very surprised at the attention given to Queen Catalina, unarguably the only wife of Henry VIII fit to be a queen. Her undeserved humiliation is portrayed with stunning sensitivity, and that she so nobly and elegantly chastised both her husband and his whores, demonstrates her superiority among Henry's subsequent wives and indeed a greatness among women in history not unlike her mother, Queen Isabella. Anne Boelyn is depicted as the adulterous whore that she was at the time and remains forever etched in the annals of history. She was instrumental in tearing England apart and her daughter carried on that despicable legacy with inherent ease. Even toward the end of the movie I found little sympathy for the Boelyn family, and even less for Henry VIII, Anne's kingly dupe. Overall the movie was true to some of the most important facts and that which it sought to focus on, i.e., Anne Boelyn's meteoric rise and unprecedented fall.