"The Real War of Thrones," By: France 5

                                                                               

                                                                   Battle of Agincourt
                 
 By Antoine Leduc, Sylvie Leluc et Olivier Renaudeau (dir.), D'Azincourt à Marignan. Chevaliers et bombardes, 1415-1515, Paris, Gallimard / Musée de l'armée, 2015, p. 18-19, ISBN 978-2-07-014949-0, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10026708


"The Real War of Thrones," by France 5



   "The Real War of Thrones" is a ten part docu-drama about the Hundred Years War, which shaped the countries and history of Europe. As opposed to doing a ten part review of each episode, I'm going to give a quick general overview of the entire series; there's simply too much history to cover here. 

    Produced by France 5; the 10 part, 4 part, or 2 seasons with 4 and 6 episodes, respectively, (depending on where you see it) the series was made to capitalize on the popularity of "Game of Thrones." Giving the viewer all the betrayal, brutality, backstabbing, usurping and gory (but very real) facts of The Hundred Years War, along a heaping helping of dramatic and cinematic flair; it does what it was created to do: inform the viewer of a real historical event while keeping them glued to the television. Originally shot in French, the English dubbed version isn't all that distracting as the on-scren actors/actresses they hired gave compelling performances; even with a bit of scenery chewing and English language ADR that clearly wasn't recorded on site, or even with the acoustics of the room taken into account. Starting with the death of French King Louis the Saint, the narrative follows the story of the The Hundred Years War from the perspective of nearly all parties involved, and weaves a tale that keeps the viewer engaged with very little effort. Docu-dramas can sometimes leave a lot to be desired in the factual department, but this series doesn't need to take a whole lot of artistic liberties; The Hundred Years War, and The War of the Roses were the basis for George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Fire and Ice," after all. Sure, there's a bit of scenery chewing, but the creators do a fine job of staying faithful to the history books. The locations, costumes, dialogue and cinematography are all top-notch, with very little, if any, anachronisms to be seen; at least to the viewer that's not a museum curator or reenacting thread-counter. Each of the episodes run in the 40-45 minute range, but the story is engaging enough that it could conceivably be viewed over the course of a single sick day or during a depression binge. The battle scenes leave a bit to be desired, as they pull the old cinema trick of having a dozen or so accurately garbed fighters kept in tight formation with the camera buried deep in the action and the out-of-focus background obscured by smoke. (WHY is there ALWAYS smoke on a medieval battlefield?! Gunpowder hadn't become prominent enough yet to have "the smoke of war" evident in every close quarters fight!) Either way, it serves the purpose plenty well enough to get the point across. They do a good job of keeping the armor and fighting styles correct for each nation and type of combatant, which shows how much thought went into the series, and is always a welcome sight. If you're looking for a documentary that won't bore you to death with nonstop facts and droning narration, "The Real War of Thrones" is just the thing to cure your GoT void.


  I give this one 4/5, only because I am not a scholar and can't say that all the action/dialogue/intrigue is 100% accurate, but I also know the history well enough that I know it's not a complete fabrication. It's highly entertaining, and if you find a copy that wasn't meant for broadcast, you're going to get all the gore, nudity and language you'd expect from a true-to-life drama.