The festival: “Tristan.” We all showed up in a big procession. First scene: magnificent! Second: slightly embarassing and kitschy. The final scene: not good either.
— Joseph Goebbels, national socialist
The music from this scene is a beautiful mixture between Lisa Gerrard’s Amergine’s Invocation and an Old Norse poem called “Song of the Exile.”
I have always thought that classically orchestrated folk music produces the most beautiful of harmonies and no one could have executed this better than Hans Zimmer who composed the score for King Arthur (2004).
It is an OK movie but this scene stands out because of its private and elementary feeling.
I have said it before and I will say it again – the best of the best from film history has always been about elevating people’s primitive needs.
Forced away from their families from an early age to fight for the Roman Empire – Arthur’s men celebrate that they are finally going off duty and Bors encourages his wife to sing about home.
Each soldier reacts differently to the song appropriate to their character but they all have one thing in common:
How much they long back to their families.
Nostalgia literally means ache for home – a classic element of kitsch.
For those who know the story it is of course just a false victory as Arthur and his knights are assigned onto another mission that postpones their homecoming and – for many of them – seals their fate.
Published on Saturday, November 19th, 2016