The Pillars of the Earth
Tags: historical fiction

Plot synopsis:
=== Setting ===
The sinking of the White Ship leaves King Henry I of England without a clear heir, and The Anarchy begins upon his death. Henry's nephew Stephen of Blois and Henry's daughter Maud fight for the throne. Ambitious nobles and churchmen take sides, hoping to gain advantages. The novel, which is divided into six sections plus a prologue, explores themes of intrigue and conspiracy against historical events. It explores the development of medieval architecture, the civil war, secular/religious conflicts, and shifting political loyalties.
=== Prologue (1123) ===
A red-headed man is hanged for theft after being condemned by a priest, a knight, and a monk. His pregnant lover curses the men who condemned him, declaring that their children will be hanged, their enemies will prosper, and that they will live the rest of their lives with regret and sorrow.
=== Part One (1135–1136) ===
Circumstances leave mason Tom Builder and his family destitute and starving. After his pregnant wife Agnes dies in childbirth, Tom abandons his newborn by his wife's grave in the snowy woods, having no way to feed the infant. He later has a change of heart and returns, but finds the baby missing. After meeting up with an outlaw named Ellen and her son Jack, whom they had first met earlier, the group discover that Tom's infant has been taken to a monastery cell belonging to the Kingsbridge Priory. Knowing that he will be charged with abandonment if he says the baby is his, and confident that the monks will be able to look after him, Tom decides to leave the infant to the monastery.
Philip, the leader of the cell, is visited by his brother Francis, a priest, who warns him of a plot by Earl of Shiring Bartholomew and the Earl of Gloucestershire against King Stephen. Philip tells Waleran Bigod, the ambitious archdeacon to the Bishop of Kingsbridge, of the plot, and travels to Kingsbridge Priory where the previous manager, Prior James, has died only a few days before. Waleran promises to make Philip the bishop's nomination for prior, practically guaranteeing Philip's election, in return for Philip's support to later make Waleran bishop though Waleran conceals that the bishop is also already dead. Philip agrees as the priory has become financially and spiritually destitute under Prior James, and he believes he can correct that. He wins, making enemies of the rivals for the post, in particular the sub-prior Remigius. Tom's infant, now named Jonathan, is sent to live with Philip at the priory.
Unsure of the validity of Philip's words, Waleran goes to the Hamleighs, a noble family who have been enemies of the Earl of Shiring ever since the earl's daughter, Aliena, rejected a marriage with William, the only son of the Hamleighs. Seeing this as an excuse for them to take their revenge, the Hamleighs take Bartholomew's castle and arrest the earl, forcing Tom and Ellen, now lovers, and their children into homelessness once again. They eventually settle in Kingsbridge, Tom hoping to get a job rebuilding the cathedral there. The family reunites with Jonathan during this time, although Tom is the only one to recognise him as such. To ensure that Tom will have work, Jack burns down the old Romanesque cathedral, telling no one else of his actions. After some convincing, Philip hires Tom to build the new cathedral.
Tom's strong son Alfred physically bullies smaller and weaker Jack through repeated acts of battery which creates friction with Ellen as Tom sees no fault in his son and never disciplines him. Brother Remigius, who is opposed to Philip as prior, charges Ellen and Tom with fornication. Waleran, who was cursed by the woman at the hanging, orders Ellen to live apart from Tom. Outraged by Tom's willingness to accept this, Ellen returns to the forest with Jack.
=== Part Two (1136–1137) ===
Philip and Waleran go to King Stephen in the hope of convincing him to give Bartholomew's estates, including a huge limestone quarry, to the church, so that they can be used to pay for the new cathedral's construction. Initially believing that Waleran will be loyal to him as a fellow cleric, Philip learns from the Hamleighs that Waleran intends to use the earldom solely to boost his own position. Realising that the Hamleighs are trying to divide him and Waleran so that they can take the earldom for themselves, Philip secretly conspires with the Hamleighs. They agree that Kingsbridge Priory will be given the quarry and some other lands with the rest of Shiring going to the Hamleighs, but the Hamleighs betray this deal and are given ownership of the quarry with Philip getting rights to, not ownership of, the stone. Furious at being foiled, Waleran vows to never let Philip build his cathedral.
Finding her still living in Shiring Castle, William attacks Aliena and her brother Richard. He mutilates the boy to coerce Aliena into not resisting as he and his man-at-arms gang rape her. Homeless and destitute, Aliena and Richard travel to Winchester in the hope of receiving compensation from the king, and visit Bartholomew, now dying in prison. The former earl demands they swear an oath to work to regain the earldom. Aliena supports Richard financially by becoming a wealthy wool merchant (by, as described in the book, the hitherto unheard of act of buying wool from the farmers on their farms and selling it at market rather than the farmers having to travel to market themselves, saving them time and effort) with the help of Philip, who agrees to buy her wool at a fair price when other merchants refuse to do so, and the two siblings settle in Kingsbridge.
The Hamleighs attempt to barricade the quarry against the priory, but Philip foils them by having his monks travel there under cover of darkness and pose as ghosts, scaring off the Hamleighs' men at arms. In retaliation, the Hamleighs work with Waleran to try to have the cathedral moved to Shiring, thus depriving Philip of the properties tied to it, by claiming that Kingsbridge lacks the resources and manpower to build a cathedral. At the advice of his allies, Philip calls across the county for volunteers to work on the cathedral as penance for their sins. On the day of an inspection by Bishop Henry of Blois that Waleran had arranged, they arrive en masse, and Henry is convinced to not move the cathedral.
=== Part Three (1140–1142) ===
William's father, Percy Hamleigh, passes away, and William learns that the earldom will either go to him or Richard, now a knight, since they are both sons of an Earl of Shiring. In order to restore his fortunes so that he can raise an army with which to impress King Stephen, William leads an attack on the quarry, which the Hamleighs had unsuccessfully attempted to barricade against Philip, killing and expelling the priory's quarrymen.
Tom befriends Prior Philip and, when Ellen returns, he persuades Philip to allow them to marry. After some time, Alfred proposes to Aliena, but she turns him down, She also strikes up a friendship, and falls in love with Jack, now working as an apprentice mason at Tom's suggestion, but she shuns him after Alfred catches the two of them kissing, being reminded of WIlliam's attack on her. The two stepbrothers continue to be at odds, and Alfred later claims that Jack's father was hanged for thieving, starting a fight that leads to damage and a loss of construction materials. Jack is expelled from the cathedral construction, but Philip contrives a new construction overseer position for Jack that he can have, on the condition that he becomes a monk. Jack reluctantly agrees to this, in order to stay in Kingsbridge. Later on, Ellen claims that Jack's father was innocent.
William proves a hapless and merciless lord who mishandles the earldom financially and routinely rapes any peasant women he wishes. Attempting to restore his fortunes, William leads an attack that burns down Kingsbridge and kills many people including Tom Builder. In the chaos, Aliena's entire stock of wool, in which she had invested all her money, is destroyed in the fire.
=== Part Four (1142–1145) ===
After losing her fortune again, Aliena agrees to marry Alfred if he supports Richard. Jack, who has been confined for continued infringements (largely fraternizing with Aliena) breaks his confinement in an attempt to talk to her, but is ultimately locked in the obedience room of the monastery. The next morning, Ellen breaks into the room, revealing that Jack's father had once been imprisoned there after he was framed for theft by three men. Freed by his mother, Jack and Aliena make love on the morning of her wedding, and he tries to convince her to leave Kingsbridge with him, but she refuses to do anything that would require her to break her vow to support Richard. Jack attempts to persuade Alfred to call off the marriage, but discovers that Alfred plans to marry her solely to keep her from Jack, and intends to mistreat her to further spite him. Ellen curses the wedding, seemingly leaving Alfred impotent, and he and Aliena never consummate their marriage. Jack leaves Kingsbridge to find out about his father.
After years of putting off the decision following the death of Earl Percy Hamleigh, Stephen finally gives the earldom to William. Alfred persuades Philip to replace the wooden roof of the cathedral with a stone vault, but fails to reinforce the structure at the higher levels. This causes the cathedral to collapse during a service, killing many people. Aliena gives birth to a red-headed son, and Alfred abandons her, having realised that the child is Jack's. On Ellen's advice, Aliena leaves with her son to find Jack, and follows evidence of Jack's sculpture through France, finding him in Paris, where they reconcile. Jack helps to calm a riot at a nearby cathedral using the "Weeping Madonna", a wooden statue of a woman he was given by a spice merchant he befriended that appears to weep when taken from a hot place to a cold place. The statue is viewed as a miracle, which Jack leverages for financial support to rebuild the cathedral in Kingsbridge.
As he travels home, Jack makes his way to Cherbourg where he is mistaken for the ghost of his father, Jacques Cherbourg, before meeting his grandmother and other relatives, who reveal that Jacques had supposedly died in the sinking of the White Ship, of which he was a passenger. Returning to Kingsbridge, Jack convinces Philip and the clergy to make him the cathedral's new master-builder, drawing up a new design for the cathedral based on his observations in France and Spain. His relationship with Aliena is discovered by the monks during the negotiations, and Philip orders them apart until Aliena's marriage to Alfred is annulled.
Wanting more information on his father, Jack questions Ellen, who has continuously kept the truth from him out of fear that he would devote himself to a life of revenge against those responsible for his father's death. She implies that the White Ship was sunk deliberately, reveals that the three men who framed Jacques Cherbourg were Percy Hamleigh, Waleran Bigod, and Prior James. After Jack visits Waleran to seek confirmation of Ellen's words, William, jealous of Jack's relationship with Aliena, convinces Waleran to let him attack Kingsbridge again, in order to kill Jack in a way that would avoid drawing attention to his accusations. Richard overhears fighters discussing the attack in another town, and his warning allows the villagers to build a set of town walls and earthen ramparts in about two days, thanks to the expertise of Jack. Fighting from the walls, the townspeople kill many of the attackers and repel William's attack, while making it impossible for him to raid Kingsbridge again. As revenge, William asks Waleran to block Alfred and Aliena's annulment. Though disheartened, Jack and Aliena agree to stay together, living separately until the day they can marry.
=== Part Five (1152-1155) ===
Many years of famine pass, which are further exacerbated by William's poor leadership. Alfred has left Kingsbridge for Shiring, but following a downturn in business he returns to Kingsbridge and begs for a job from Jack. William's mother dies, and after he forgets to summon the priest to give her her last rites, the guilt-stricken William is persuaded by Waleran to build a cathedral in Shiring for the sake of his mother's soul. They are later aided by Alfred, who brings all of the Kingsbridge workmen to Shiring in return for being in charge of the cathedral's construction, after Philip is unable to keep paying them.
Inspired by Aliena, Richard organises the starving peasants who have turned to outlawry into a militia, and goes to war with William, robbing him on multiple occasions. William learns of the location of Richard's forces from Remigius, in return for making the monk the head of Shiring's future chapter, and plans an overwhelming attack to kill all the rebels. When he arrives, he learns from Ellen that Richard's men have left to join the forces of Maud's son, the future Henry II of England, who has invaded the country on the advice of Francis.
Eventually, Stephen agrees to have Henry succeed him. Philip learns that as part of their deal, all properties will revert to the owners who held them prior to Stephen’s reign, thus making Richard the official earl, but Stephen will not have to force the handovers, meaning that Richard might not gain the earldom until Stephen's death. With the help of William's young wife, who loathes William, Aliena is able to allow Richard to capture the earldom's castle before Henry and Stephen's treaty can be made official and the King's Peace restored. William returns to the village of Hamleigh, and Waleran proposes to sell him the position of sheriff of Shiring so that he can oppose Richard and keep funding the cathedral. Remigius is abandoned by the two of them during this time, but Philip forgives him for his treachery and allows him to return to the priory.
Richard refuses to grant the priory access to the quarry, on the basis that it was once part of the earldom. After Aliena calls him out for his ingratitude towards Philip, she is attacked and nearly raped by Alfred, who is out of work again after Shiring Cathedral is abandoned. Richard arrives and kills Alfred in the ensuing fight. Seeing a chance to regain the earldom, William obtains a warrant to arrest Richard for murder on the king's behalf. Realising that Richard has no chance of a fair trial due to the attitudes towards marital rape of the time period and the hostility of both William and Stephen towards him, Philip proposes that Richard, who is more suited to be a soldier than an earl, fight in the Crusades as penance for killing Alfred; William would be unable to arrest him, and Aliena would be allowed to look after her brother's lands, therefore giving the earldom both a competent ruler and one willing to co-operate with the priory. Aliena and Jack marry within the new cathedral.
=== Part Six (1170-1174) ===
After many years, Kingsbridge cathedral is completed. Waleran still seeks to ruin Philip, and accuses him of fornication by claiming that Jonathan, now a well liked and committed monk, is Philip's son. With Philip's conviction certain due to a lack of evidence proving his innocence, Jack and Jonathan attempt to figure out the identity of the latter's father, both being unaware that he is Tom's son. They discover the truth when Jonathan recalls that he had been found near the monastery cell that Philip once ran, a fact that had previously been unknown to Jack, who then remembers seeing the baby Jonathan lying on his mother's grave. The two of them manage to convince Ellen, who has remained bitter towards Philip for his role in splitting up her and Tom, to testify on his behalf.
At Philip's trial, Ellen's testimony saves him from being convicted. Regardless, Waleran accuses Ellen of perjury, and she exposes his own perjury in the framing of Jacques Cherbourg, revealing that Waleran and the others had been bribed to dispose of him. Remigius confirms her testimony, having heard Prior James confess to his perjury shortly before the latter's death. He explains that James's misrule of the Priory had been the result of the guilt he felt for his part in the conspiracy, and admits that he had sought to become Prior to repair the damage, before admitting that Philip was better suited for the task. Waleran ultimately loses his position as bishop of Kingsbridge as a result of the revelations.
Later on, William and Waleran become involved with the plot to assassinate Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in order to protect their now crumbling positions of power. William leads the attack, and despite the efforts of Philip, who had traveled to Canterbury to meet with Becket, the archbishop is brutally murdered. Upon seeing the distraught congregation, Philip is inspired to treat Becket's death as a martyrdom, and urges the assembled people to spread word of the murder across Christendom. With King Henry refusing to defend Becket's killers, William is subsequently convicted of sacrilege by the efforts of both Philip and Tommy, the son of Jack and Aliena, and hanged.
At Kingsbridge, Jack meets with a ruined and repentant Waleran, now living as a monk in the priory, to learn why his father was framed. The former bishop explains that a group of barons had arranged the sinking of the White Ship in order to kill the king's son and heir, with the belief that they would be able to influence the succession and gain more independence from the crown as a result. After they learned that Jacques Cherbourg had survived the sinking, the barons had him imprisoned in England to prevent him from exposing their conspiracy. While initially content to leave him there, they eventually chose to have him killed after he learned English and started attracting unwanted attention, hiring Waleran, Percy and James for this end. Finally understanding the truth behind his father's death, Jack is able to put it behind him. Elsewhere, the Pope forces King Henry’s public repentance and symbolic subjugation of the crown to the church, in which Philip, now Bishop of Kingsbridge, participates.

Review: Without a doubt, it is the greatest book I have ever read, with a cleverly constructed and well-researched story, engaging characters and is full of intrigues, violence and sex.
Now, over two decades after the novel hit the bookshelves, Ridley and Tony Scott bring you an eight-part miniseries that promises to be one of the best ones I have seen in recent years.It is 1135 and a dark time in the history of England.
Philipp, Tom and his family and Aliena are faced with several challenges and hardships, but their paths cross in Kingsbridge, and they all will play a vital role in the construction of the brand new cathedral.Two episodes into the miniseries, I'm quite impressed by how much the atmosphere of the book was kept and although I was prepared to be disappointed, I am really enjoying it so far.
It seems that the best and most expensive stuff was just good enough for this series and the medieval cities of the book such as Kingsbridge and Shiring look stunningly real.
I am glad that eight episodes were dedicated to tell the story of "The Pillars of Earth" instead of merely a two-hour movie, although it's not nearly as epic as Ridley Scott's big movies such as "Gladiator".
The series does have combat scenes, but ultimately it's more of a dark drama, focusing on characters and relationships before anything else.The miniseries stays very close to the plot in the novel, and only minor details were changed.
I actually find Macfadyen to be almost a little dry in the role of Philipp, but since the character is described with exactly that word many times in the book, I guess he should be commended for his performance.
Rufus Sewell so far is the best of the actors in the series, and he is very emotional as Tom and exactly how I imagined him from the books.
"The Pillars of Earth" deserved a fantastic adaptation, and I'm glad to see that the producers and the director Sergio Mimica-Gezzan were seemingly ambitious enough to ensure that this would be a memorable series, worthy of this great book.
But watching the series, no matter how good it is now and will be in the weeks to come, will never be an adequate substitute for actually reading the book..
I could no longer follow the adventures of these heroic and scheming English men and women in the the tumultuous 12th Century, a time of uncertainty over who should be on the throne.I have now watched the first six episodes (available on Netflix for instant viewing) and am dying to see the final two when they come available.
They have followed the novel's plot entirely,making minor tweaks and changes for the sake of exposition and moving things along.The two hour premiere manages to thrust the viewer into 1100s England and reveal the complicated origins of the civil war with the ship burning and the crisis related to heirs of the throne.
The new prior, Phillip, has decided to rebuild his cathedral by making it a "compass to God" and this event becomes central to the story "Pillars of the Earth." While wars and strife erupt around it, the beautiful cathedral rises from an English meadow.The special effects and art direction masterfully create the grimy, gritty world of 1100s England and the stark contrasts between privileges of royalty and serfs wallowing in the mud beside the hogs they keep.
Best of all, Ian McShane as the absurdly evil Bishop Waleron Bigod explodes from the screen with a voice that booms like a thunderclap as he progresses from one dirty deed and double cross to another.Eddie Redmayne as Jack Jackson, one of the central characters of the story, deserves special mention for his deft portrayal of the sensitive but strong character.
Even a casual review of the works of Shakespeare reveals that incest ran rampant through royalty during the middle ages, so the plot detail is historically relevant and manages to create additional atmosphere and tension.Overall, the television miniseries should thrill the fans of the novel.
Luckily, they've been doing many repeated showings of the episodes, so I watched the first episode a second time and the series has won me over.Now if you've read the book, of course, you're going to be a little disappointed.
Keeping in mind it is not as mystical as I would have thought from the title and even the previews I've now seen since I began to watch it - it has made up for that with a strong story and lovely backgrounds for visual appeal and 'time proper' settings.
Now I did not have the good fortune of reading Ken Follet's book, but when I saw the promos and previews for this, I know I wanted to watch it.
There are many characters(including a family that seek to construct a grand cathedral, two siblings who lose their nobility and try to regain it, and several men of God with more or less pure intentions and granted, not everyone is actually necessary) and a lot of plot, and it can be dizzying at first, but it is worth your attention(if you like what you see early on it ain't gonna change).
Oh, and I haven't read the book, which probably helps to enjoy the show as it's own creation.It's important to note that Ridley Scott is a producer and his most recent film Robin Hood, shares quite a resemblance to the general story and setting of Pillars.
She, a woman in the Middle Ages, a princess who had never worked in her entire life, could just do it.Another thing that bothered me was that the actors did not look convincingly medieval, they looked like modern people in an odd setting.
My summary and high star rating make my overall assessment of this miniseries obvious overall, but I at least want to chime in on a couple of things I constantly see and hear in reference to this along with most other book-to-film adaptations.As with ALL film adaptations, this will NOT-and in fact CAN NOT-be identical to the book, and if that is what you expect or even desire, let me paraphrase author John Green regarding his book The Fault In Our Stars becoming a movie (when mostly young readers freak over the blue-eyed main male character being changed to a guy with brown eyes or the actress playing the main protagonist, who in that book happens to have cancer, being "too pretty" as if nobody with cancer can be attractive-granted the readers ARE mostly teenage girls--anyway, back to what he expressed several places to varying degrees of detail and all that): Of COURSE the movie will differ from the book-one consists of scribbles on paper and the other of moving pictures and sound!
Yes, I DO believe it arrogant to presume YOUR way (when saying you/your, I refer to the person doing the fussing) of reading and interpreting a book and indeed the motion picture YOU envision while reading-the on the fly movie of your mind-is somehow more "correct" (I think there are as many correct interpretations as there are readers/viewers/listeners/consumers of whatever medium) or true-to-the-author's-vision or other self-righteous nonsense we all manage to find some time for when we could be volunteering to clean up the streets or teach or mentor youth whatever we're good at/knowledgeable about etc!
The story, though, is SO well-acted, engrossing, and rich, carefully pieced together with impeccable timing and interactions you can almost feel the love, anger, jealousy, and utter turmoil from an absolutely GREAT cast--HUGE props for SUCH powerful older figures and especially for NOT making it a film of only overly pretty people!
There's no way they could logically follow the book to the page-too much not only had to be cut or rearranged but also ADDED, pieces we fill in where books leave big gaps movies cannot-but at the end of the day this is marvelous and does a great deal of honor to the books, making details about building a cathedral just as beautiful and gripping to watch unfold as to imagine while following paper-staining scribbles..
I will continue to watch to find out what happens (I haven't read the book) but it even makes Cadfael (based in the same period) look good..
Basically, the writers of this TV adaptation re-wrote the whole thing to their liking but certainly not to mine.For example, Jack is turned into a strong courageous and very assertive young fellow with rather good looks instead of the weak and not so good looking boy in the original story.They have also cut all the erotic content that spiced up the book, which is also a huge let down obviously.The story telling is left to be desired as the dialogue has also suffered from heavy cutting.
I was a big fan of the book, and at the beginning the casting caught me by surprise for a few characters which I imagined differently (Philip in primis), the acting was really good, especially by Ian McShane's Waleran and Natalia Wörner-Ellen.The adaptation does take some liberties vs.
Notable is that Macaulay's cathedral took like 150 yrs to build.I ordered the mini series via Netflix so my wife, who did not have the time to read the book, could see the story and participate in the book club discussion.
The movie series is the opposite of the book, in that it compresses the bare bones of the story into the few hours running time.
It's a pretty movie with nice sets and good actors, but the plot moves with too much speed and confusion while giving up the plots in the first hour that were not told in the book until the very end.
I wonder how many of the actors took the time to read the book or talk at length with Ken Follet.I went into this thinking that I would probably give it a 6-7 if the acting was good enough to earn higher, but with points taken off for stupid plot changes.
Maintaining the focus on the cathedral, all the lives of the people involved are dissected and laid bare in front of the viewer's eyes.Bottom line: great story, grand acting and directing, a bit of a slow-down at the end and then a quick finish that I didn't totally enjoy, but overall a must see movie.
The movie pulls very few punches and one must be prepared for it.While Ken Follett has written another book in the same universe, it is not sequential to this story, so if there will be a series made after it, it will not be a "second season" to Pillars, so it is truly standalone..
By the way, I have not read the book in advance, so my negative impressions have nothing to do with that.It is quite odd that I feel like this, because I am a history buff and I am especially interested in the Middle Ages.
It seems to me that some drunk fool read the book, a very long time ago, then told someone about it, who in turn thought it was a good enough story to make a series out of.
If you haven't read the book, watch the series and judge for yourself.Now I won't sit here and be completely negative.
Ian McShane (Waleran), Matthew Macfadyen (Prior Philip), Hayley Atwell (Aliena), David Oakes (William Hamleigh) and Rufus Sewell (Tom Builder) are all excellent choices as their respective characters, and deliver very impressive performances, although sometimes out of character in comparison to the book, but that is not their fault i believe.
you probably will never read this review.but this allegedly historical drama is nothing short of pathetic.anyone who attempts a medieval historical series about the building of a cathedral, attempts as lofty an enterprise as the original architects.i realize that in our modern c.g. age, showing construction progress is much simpler, but when a production company attempts to low-ball a project that twenty years before, would have been cost prohibitive, to then treat the whole project as low-budget and attempt sex without sex, period language without language, and ambiance without ambiance, show themselves to care only about cash, and pleasing the moral and emotional agendas of a new 21st century peasant audience: betraying the story's medieval effort, where the characters put all forth in the name of art--pushing those characters and the spire beyond their cultural place and into greater heights.this is a Scott free production--the same scott that brought us "KINGDOM OF HEAVEN", the difference between these two projects is that between sex with and without a condom.it is somatose tripe.ridley you should be ashamed--no doubt all the way to the bank..
It could have been really good and it was in a lot of ways however I just couldn't stomach all the bits they made up.If you have read the book don't even bother watching this however if you haven't and don't know what to expect you will probably be pleasantly surprised..
Americans probably best know the period of British history called The Anarchy through the stories of Brother Cadfael, the scientist monk created by Edith Parteger, played for television by Derek Jacobi.The Pillars of the EArth is not Brother Cadfael's Anarchy: it is bloodier, more violent, more sexual and less historically accurate.
The series bogs down at the end, and the final two episodes ought to have been shortened into one.What is so absorbing about the story is how two basically ethical and honest men, the lead characters Tom Builder (Rufus Sewell) and Prior Philip (Matthew Macfaydan) struggle to maintain their integrity in a political situation that forces them to compromise and how their images of themselves are disturbed when the genuinely manipulative characters accuse them of self-interest and ambition.Among the producers of the series are the brothers Tom and Ridley Scott, whose work, such as their television series Numbers, often examines relationships within families.
I watched the whole miniseries in one day; once you started you cannot stop, like when you read Follett's book.
This series is so different from the book, that I felt like I was watching a completely different story than what Ken wrote.
Who these people _are_ is what makes the story so compelling, and the miniseries changes all of that.The only redeeming feature is that the cinematography is good, as is the harsh depiction of life in the Dark Ages.But, if you want a good story - READ THE BOOK!
Loved the book and I think they have done a pretty good job in making it as a Miniseries.
The Pillars of the Earth, produced by Ridley Scott, very good with a lot of suspense, very interesting story and very talented actors, Ian McShane is wonderful, Götz Otto, who is an actor I admire, is amazing.
Ken Follett's lengthy historical novel THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH is far too intricate to adapt into a feature-length production, so producers instead opted for this miniseries treatment which gives a full 8 hours to the plotting.
What makes Pillars of the Earth click is its impeccable character building; Tom the Builder, Prior Phillip, Bishop Waleron, Aliena, Jack,William, Regan, Ellen- Every character competes for the other;Every character has a purpose; Story itself tries to draw parallel with certain Biblical aspects; One of the key is of course characters who represent the 7 DEADLY SINS;Some of the following could be up for debate;1) Wrath - William Hamleigh 2) Sloth - Percy Hamleigh 3) Lust - Regan Hamleigh 4) Envy - Alfred 5) Gluttony - Prior James 6) Greed - Bishop Waleron Bigod 7) Pride - King StephenPride & Gluttony are debatable, but in general,I believe this is a story of Good v Evil, depicted nicely; Casting is brilliant; Screen chemistry of actors portraying Jack & Aliena is unbelievable & probably one of the finest on-screen pairing everHad the production be on a far larger scale, like Game of Thrones, Pillars of Earth would have beaten it by a country mile by its sheer story line & characterizations; There are certain flaws in the making but I think it can be ignored because this book needed to be told in a TV screen and in fact, done well;10/10 for Pillars of the Earth (the novel) 8.5/10 for Pillars of the Earth (the TV series).
Unless you've read the book, the narrative and opening threads of the story are difficult to follow as too many characters are introduced.The casting is a mixed bag with some strong acting by McShane and the guy who plays Jack the Builder, but poor choices in the role of Philip, the prior, who comes off as a milquetoast in this version while in the book he is the central character who dominates almost every page.
All in all its a good statement of what the book was sort of about but because of the so many eliminated plot lines and characters I ended the series thinking..
Reading the book I could not imagine other actors playing the parts.So they did a very good adaptation but sometimes it feels like they did simplify and not adapt .
I recently re-read "Pillars of the Earth" (one of my favorite books) and started watching, with great anticipation, the series within days of completing it.
And as for Eddie Redmayne, I really tried to like him, but all I kept wondering is: "What's wrong with that poor boy's mouth?" If you have never read the book, you will probably enjoy the series.
And so can all that be said for Kingsbridge and its people.To read "Pillars of the Earth" is to become, not a visitor to 12th century England, but an inhabitant of it.The mini-series is but a brochure for the story.
Yes, the actors are good and the whole thing looks like I imagined it while reading.But otherwise it's nothing like in the book.
The series (thus far) misses the soul of the "Pillars" legacy, story and intent.I have read the book a number of times.