William Tell ★★★
THE makers of period action film William Tell do a pretty good job of making audiences think their subject actually did exist.
In reality, there is apparently no evidence that Tell was anything more than a fictional hero of Swiss folklore who became a larger-than-life representation of the country’s historical fight for independence.
The events from which the fictional stories grew, and writer/director Nick Hamm’s film is focused, occurred in the 1300s and the script is based on an 1804 play that was the first work to flesh out Tell’s fictional story.
In 1307 Switzerland is a province under the rule of the Austrian royal house of Habsburg which brutalises parts of the population at will. The Swiss people, however, are at odds over the occupation with some members of the ruling classes unwilling to encourage and support any rebellion.
But rebellion is definitely brewing and former soldier turned pacifist farmer Willhelm Tell, played well by the prolific Claes Bang ,eventually finds himself embroiled at the centre of it after making the decision to assist another farmer who fought back after his wife was raped and murdered.
The other main character becomes nobleman Rudenz (Jonah Hauer-King) who eventually comes to the realisation that the fight for freedom requires more than just patience and diplomacy.
For a film that cost less than $50 million, some of the action sequences punch above their weight. You can see the lack of big money in some of the crowd scenes, but this doesn’t detract from the story overall.
Of course, one of the main sequences is Tell’s shooting of the apple from his son’s head which, even though you know the outcome, still manages to create some tension.
Every historical drama, however loose, needs a villain and Connor Swindells is a stand-out, playing a completely different role to his SAS soldier in the television series Rogue Heroes.
Other international cast members of note, albeit they all collectively have limited screen time, are Rafe Spall, Jonathan Pryce and Ben Kingsley.
Watched on Apple TV (pardon the unintentional pun)