The Eagle starring Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell

Yesterday I went to see The Eagle starring Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell, and directed by Kevin Macdonald. The film is based on the Rosemary Sutcliffe novel Eagle of the Ninth which had a big impact on me when I read it aged about ten (along with The Lantern Bearers and The Mark of the Horselord).  In a way going to see this film was a risk as it could have destroyed important memories.  I needn't have worried as everything about The Eagle was exceptionally well done. Kevin Macdonald has constructed a work with multiple layers:  it was an action film (fighting, chasing, feats of endurance); a philosophical film (ideas of identity, loyalty, memory); a history film (Britannia recreated, Roman colonialism examined, the pre-Roman tribes given an anthropological interpretation). Lighting is one of the things I notice most about feature films, and I liked the way the strong Caravaggio-style scenes of the early part of the film (strong side lights) became more muted and shaded as the story progressed.  It was as if the lighting director was following the storyline where the black and white certainties of Roman Britannia become more questionable and nuanced in the tribal lands.  This careful lighting makes the film a visual gem.  Also need to mention the colours, which were muted and authentic.  The only strong colour in the whole film was the gold of the eagle.  The total result was visually intriguing and absorbing. Atmospheres were also captured well - the claustrophobia of the fort, the chaos of the fighting, the menace of the highlands (possibly they overdid the rain, rolling thunder and fog). Channing Tatum is an impressive actor, particularly the way he conveys the act of thinking - pensiveness, pondering, intuition, calculation, contemplation, inspiration.  I don't think I have ever seen a "silent" character portrayed so strongly and expertly.  It was this factor that made the film so true to the original book. Channing Tatum also has integrity in the way he acts - everything he did contributed to the overall impression of the character, with nothing out of place. I liked the great breadth of detail in the film, with the strong narrative built up from myriad individual elements rather than everything shown all at once.  The fighting scenes were much better for being implicit.  The athleticism of the cast was convincing. There were a few places where the film fell down, particularly the cliched sound of bagpipes at a funeral.  Also were the stripes on the togas of the Roman officials correct, and was the senior Roman a senator or a proconsul?  At one point a map was shown with Lincoln as Lindum and York as Eboracum, but "Hadrian's Wall" written in English instead of being called Vallum Aelium. But these are minor points.  In my view the film is a triumph.  In time it will be seen as a classic.