The Last Legion
Director: Doug Lefler
Starring: Aishwarya Rai, Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley (Ambrosius aka. Merlin)
A masterpiece that brilliantly combines Celtic Mythology with Roman History and somewhere down the line unfolds a timeless tale, with well-etched characters and a plotline that’s brilliantly rewritten from history books and flavored with magic and believable larger than life characterizations.
The Last Legion surely comes as relief to the genre of period films. With technical rubbish like 300, now seeming to dominate this genre, one can see a bleak yet hopeful future, in period film making. Everything looks real. From the costumes, to the cinematography, Doug Lefler, who earlier gave us Dragonheart (2000), has added his impeccable style at combining these diverse story telling traditions to give us this almost 2 hour long mythical journey that strangely seems real.
The film has wonderful performances by child artist Thomas Sangster as Romulus Augustus, the last Caesar (Nanny McPhee and Love Actually), Aishwarya Rai as Mira, the Indian Warrior (Provoked), and Colin Firth as General Aurelias (Bridget Jones’s Diary). How the director managed to link a tale that spirals from Rome to Britannia, and ends up as a prelude to King Arthur’s Tale is remarkable. I’m impressed. No more revealing, instead watch the movie when in hits theatres in a months time.
Dialogue not to be missed: Aurelias asks Mira where she learnt to fight, she replies that she is from the state of Kerala, where they practice a martial art called ‘Kalaripayathu’, and that she’s achieved the seventh level.
P.S., Kerala didn’t exist then , it was probably the Chera Kingdom, and it’s ‘Kalaripaayaattu’ not Kalaripayathu.
***** (Brilliant, worth every minute!)
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