For reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(film)
Took my girlfriend to this film because she was required to see it for her Elizabethan Literature course.
It is not Anonymous like the internet troll group but the premise is that the Earl of Oxford was an illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth, had an illegitimate child with Queen Elizabeth and wrote all of the plays attributed to William Shakesphere but published them under Shakesphere to protect his anonymity.
As a historian, this film is a disaster. It claims that Queen Elizabeth had multiple children but none of them with Robert Dudley (who was the only person suspected of it). Her advisors, the Cecil family, were part of a plot to put their family in power using these illegitimate children but later sold out to King James. The Cecils were portrayed like Snively Whiplash, conveniently leaving out that they were responsible for her success.
The Earl of Essex (who lead a revolt) was portrayed as a victim of circumstance when British Soldiers fired on a pro-Essex mob who had just seen Richard III (which was not out at that time). In reality, no one joined him because they knew that treason was death.
Shakesphere himself was a bumbling idiot who esentially sold his name to protect Oxford's anonymity. Oh and King James, the Scottsman who survived about 10 plots to overthrow him, was portrayed as a long haired flamer
tl;dr version: It is a historical terd, don't see it
Took my girlfriend to this film because she was required to see it for her Elizabethan Literature course.
It is not Anonymous like the internet troll group but the premise is that the Earl of Oxford was an illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth, had an illegitimate child with Queen Elizabeth and wrote all of the plays attributed to William Shakesphere but published them under Shakesphere to protect his anonymity.
As a historian, this film is a disaster. It claims that Queen Elizabeth had multiple children but none of them with Robert Dudley (who was the only person suspected of it). Her advisors, the Cecil family, were part of a plot to put their family in power using these illegitimate children but later sold out to King James. The Cecils were portrayed like Snively Whiplash, conveniently leaving out that they were responsible for her success.
The Earl of Essex (who lead a revolt) was portrayed as a victim of circumstance when British Soldiers fired on a pro-Essex mob who had just seen Richard III (which was not out at that time). In reality, no one joined him because they knew that treason was death.
Shakesphere himself was a bumbling idiot who esentially sold his name to protect Oxford's anonymity. Oh and King James, the Scottsman who survived about 10 plots to overthrow him, was portrayed as a long haired flamer
tl;dr version: It is a historical terd, don't see it
