Henry Of Navarre

Title: Henry Of Navarre

Year: 2010

Running Time: 148 minutes

Director: Jo Baier

Cast: Julien Boisselier (Henry Of Navarre), Joachim Krol (Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne), Andreas Schmidt (Guillaume Du Bartas)

Notes: Won one award. German-made, in French.

Rating: 8

Thoughts:   Henry of Navarre is a warrior on the battlefield as he makes his transformation into being King Henry IV of France.

The acting is fairly strong here, although the lead lacks a certain charisma. He does brooding very well but sometimes you need to like him.

It all looks very nice although, as is often the case with the smaller budgets, the battles are a bit light. There just aren't enough people on screen to be convincing.

That all said this has a certain grit to it and bursts with realism otherwise. You feel quite immersed in the complex religious politics involved, and there is plenty of pace to the narrative.

Overall this is an ambitious affair and mostly delivers.