A legendary Swiss folk hero and marksman gets his own historical epic in William Tell, which opens in Prague cinemas this weekend after premiering in the UK and Ireland earlier this year. This handsomely-mounted medieval tale in the vein of Braveheart or Ridley Scott‘s Robin Hood has slipped under the radar but deserves wider appreciation; only an anachronistic perspective and an overstuffed narrative keep it from truly hitting the mark.
If you know nothing else of William Tell, you know of the apple he struck with expert precision from his bow, saving both his own life and that of his son and inciting a revolution against the oppressive Habsburg monarchy in 14th-century Switzerland. Tell may or (more likely) may not have been a real-life figure, but his story was cemented into modern history through Friedrich Schiller’s 1804 play, upon which this new film from writer-director Nick Hamm (2018’s underrated DeLorean thriller Driven) is based.
That apple scene opens William Tell and serves as a rousing 20-minute highlight at the end of the film’s second half. Tell, emphatically played by Claes Bang (The Square), refuses to bend the knee to Albert I of Habsburg at a post erected to force the Swiss into public humiliation. In turn, ruthless bailiff Albrecht Gessler (Connor Swindells) forces Tell into a cruel game: 20 paces from the post, he must shoot an arrow through an apple delicately balanced on his son’s head.
Tell has already been playing the part of reluctant hero through this point in the film, risking his own life to protect a farmer (Sam Keeley) who murdered the vile tax collector (Billy Postlethwaite) who raped and killed his wife. But the arrow trick makes for a terrific story, and as news of it spreads through the Swiss cantons, they put aside their own squabbles to unite in revolt against their tyrannical Habsburg rulers.
This is the crux of Schiller’s play, and there’s enough of it here to wholeheartedly recommend this version of William Tell, the first official adaptation in English, to audiences in search of medieval action. Playing somewhat against type as a rugged action hero, Bang makes for a formidable presence in the lead, and gives both the Swiss and audiences a real hero to root for.
He’s matched by Swindells (Barbie, Sex Education) as the relentlessly cruel Gessler, the kind of old-fashioned foaming-at-the-mouth villain that we love to hate; he’s only missing a handlebar mustache to twirl. As Tell and his disparate Swiss forces lay bloody siege to Altendorf and the stage is set for an epic showdown between hero and villain, William Tell is operating at peak efficiency.
But there’s so much else going on in William Tell—a plethora of additional characters and their own storylines—that doesn’t work as well. The sheer amount of material that the film works through, along with a cliffhanger finale that feels particularly out of place, suggests that this may have worked better as a significantly longer epic or even a series; at two-and-a-quarter hours, the film struggles to convey the totality of its narrative with the impact it deserves.
William Tell‘s various side plots include the one-eyed King Albert I, played by Ben Kingsley in an arresting and all-too-brief appearance; Albert’s half-Swiss niece Bertha (Ellie Bamber), who is sympathetic to the rebel cause but about to be married to Gessler; her true love interest Rudenz (Jonah Hauer-King), a Swiss prince who bows to the king in an attempt at diplomacy; and Rudenz’s uncle Attinghausen (Jonathan Pryce), a Swiss noble who rejects his nephew’s obeisance.
There’s also Swiss aristocrat Stauffacher (Rafe Spall) and his wife Gertrude (Emily Beecham), old friends of Tell he seeks out in advance of the rebellion; Catholic priest Furst (Amar Chadha-Patel), who helps them further the cause; Tell’s Palestinian (!) wife Suna (Golshifteh Farahani), whom he brought back to Europe from the Crusades, and their mixed-race son Walter (Tobias Jowett).
For expediency, these characterizations are all largely one-note, which especially hurts the female characters in William Tell. While our hero is a conflicted former knight who knows the cost of war, Bertha, Gertrude, and Suna are all gung-ho patriots and highly-skilled warriors who fearlessly leap into battle to dispose of countless enemies, and can only be defeated by treachery.
Still, it’s easier to digest these kinds of characterizations when they aren’t in the spotlight; William Tell puts enough focus on its central protagonist, and moves so fast to cover its large scope, that we don’t have enough time to worry about the smaller pieces that don’t ring true. Sturdy direction, solid performances, and gorgeous location photography in the Swiss Alps help seal the deal.
This is the kind of medieval European epic that doesn’t get made often enough, and should play well with general audiences despite a chilly critical reception. William Tell may not hit a bullseye, but with rousing action, a commanding lead, and an expertly-crafted apple-shot centerpiece, it still finds its mark.
