With the release of Kenneth Branagh’s Thor (love the film or not) there should be a new interest from younger film fans to know more about what Branagh has done in the past. I pretty much grew up watching his films and made me rediscover and love Shakespeare once more. His grasp of the the Bard’s work has always been both respectful to traditions, but also with an eye and ear towards the common man of this era. He made Shakespeare film adaptations a must-see during the 1990’s.

The latest “Scenes I Love” comes from his very first film and was released in 1989. The film I speak of is his film adaptation of Henry V. I remember clearly the first time I saw this film. It was during my sophomore year in high school and it was during a school field trip arranged by my English teach to see this film at the local arthouse theater. I was still young and didn’t care much for the plays of Shakespeare (as did most of my classmates), but once the light dimmed and the film began I was hooked.

The scene I still consider my favorite from this film is Branagh in the role of King Henry V (he starred, wrote and directed the film) giving the speech on St. Crispin’s Day to his gathered troops as they prepare themselves for the upcoming battle (the Battle of Agincourt) against a numerically superior French force. This speech I didn’t understand half of what was being said but the way Branagh handled this monologue made it easy to understand the meaning even if the words themselves were lost.

I still get chills whenever I watch this scene and would more than be willing to take up arms against the French once it was over.