A Royal Affair -- who knew Denmark got enlightened then darkened and then...

I watched this movie.  I had to look for background info, to check the history, and to just be amazed for a minute. Or longer. It is staying with me and I can't shake the ideas forged by a season of such unique opportunity even before the American Revolution.  It is simply mind-boggling that the more that I read, the more it reaffirms the idea that art (and superb movie-making and story-telling is ART) can inspire and cause reflection and make some amazing things comes to light.  Shakespeare was only the beginning of the enlightenment of the Elizabethan Era.

Check out this review/synopsis that quotes the screenwriter, Rasmus Heisterberg and talks about the similarities between the state of politics now in the United States and nearly 250 years ago in Denmark.

Heisterberg, the entire incident suggests a simple and obvious truth: “It all comes down to education. That’s why it was so important for us to do a film about the Age of Enlightenment, and how it came to Denmark. If you enlighten people you can change. That’s where all the change comes from. The choice is always obvious if you know what’s right and what’s wrong. It also proves that progressiveness isn’t something that just happens, you have to fight for it.”

Also, side note, all during the viewing of the movie, I couldn't shake the idea that the lead actor (Mads Mikkelson) looked like someone else.  Today I figured out that it was William Fichtner that I had been thinking,  I have always just loved his look and reading his Wikipedia page I rediscover that he was in the soap opera, As the World Turns during the time that I spend so much time with the Petersons and recorded it everyday. No wonder. And weird.