‘William Tell’ Review: Claes Bang Is Right On Target Against Ben Kingsley In This Rousing Adventure And Legendary Tale – Toronto Film Festival

I have to confess I don’t know much about William Tell, the legendary 14th century huntsman who we were told as school children took his bow and arrow and heroically shot an apple off the top of his son’s head. And there is also the infamous “William Tell Overture” played in concerts around the globe. So that’s it. That is all I knew, until now, when I was completely captivated by a rousing new adventure William Tell, which does indeed tell the tale of this reluctant warrior. But did he ever really exist or is this tale a tall one? Director-writer Nick Hamm tries valiantly to put the pieces together. It all happened a long time ago, as this film’s events are set in 1307, but whatever the facts I have to say this is perfect movie material, reminiscent in spirit and execution of 1995’s Oscar-winning Braveheart. It is having its world premiere tonight at the Toronto Film Festival.

Plot-wise it certainly reflects known conflicts of the time. In this case the Holy Roman Empire is in turmoil, and the aggressive Austrian Hapsburg family, led by evil King Albrecht (Ben Kingsley), invades Switzerland, causing panic and nightmares for the peasant population as he rolls his troops through the country. One such person at his wits end takes it upon himself to kill an Austrian governor, and his himself marked for death. Desperately, he runs into William Tell and pleads with him to help him get to safety. Being a good soul, Tell agrees and takes him across the raging river waters.

Tell is very much antiwar at this time having just returned exhausted from fighting in the Crusades. He has witnessed war’s folly and wants no part of it, so he has returned with his wife Suna (Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani). But in helping this farmer he meets many from the Swiss resistance and, like Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III, is sucked back in just when he thought he was out. He joins the Swiss resistance in a major way but soon has a target on his back, particularly from the villainous Austrian Viceroy Gessler (a scene-stealing Connor Swindells) who goes mano a mano threatening him with prison unless he can pull off the impossible: shoot an apple of the top of Tell’s beloved son’s head. He nervously takes on the challenge, but this is William Tell, and if we know anything, that apple is toast. But it is not played the way its been handed down through the centuries, but with a more biting realism staging it as if it were execution for entertainment of the Viceroy and his ilk. Clearly the welfare of the child is nowhere in Gessler’s thoughts.

When Tell succeeds against all odds, the Viceroy attempts to go back on his bargain, just the beginning of a treacherous effort with Tell in command to fight off the Austrian King’s edicts and terrorist activities against the Swiss and restore peace to this once peaceful country. It may have been very long ago but some things still have relevance, and you might look at the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a distant cousin in Europe today. Hamm keeps the themes here contemporary and still relevant.

Some epic stories like this one can get bogged down in details and exposition, but Hamm (The Journey, Driven) directs this like he’s marching into battle himself with a key intensity and purpose to make this thing soar with never a dull moment. Using Friedrich Schiller’s early 19th century play as a template, he has added his own approach to making this accessible for today’s low-attention-span audiences. It works as a rip-roaring epic with much to say as a bonus.

Bang, also on display in Toronto in Bonjour Tristesse, really shows his action movie star bona fides and gives Tell depth and a conscience. Swindells is almost too villainous, but that dichotomy does work in the scheme of things. We have to have someone to root against, and Kingsley, though the King is calling the shots, is apart from the actual action. Farahani is excellent, and it is nice to report there are some other nice roles for women here, something rarely the case in this kind of film. Ellie Bamber is particularly winning as Princess Bertha, who gets a conscience of her own along the way, and there is nice work from Emily Beecham as Gertrude. Shown off to good advantage is Rafe Spall as Stauffacher, and the always welcome veteran star Jonathan Pryce as Attinghauser, the uncle to Prince Rodenz (Jonah Haurer-King). This is a large cast with many more that Hamm navigates skillfully.

The film looks spectacular even if made for a fraction of what Hollywood studios used to regularly pour into these big epic stories and now spend on TV series like Game of Thrones. It measures up and even exceeds those expectations. The superb cinematography is from Jamie D. Ramsey, and the pulsating score from Steven Price.

Producers are Hamm, Piers Tempest and Marie-Christine Jaeger-Firmenich.

Title: William Tell
Festival: Toronto (Gala Presentations)
Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Director-screenwriter: Nick Hamm
Cast: Claes Bang, Connor Swinndells, Goldhifteh Farahani, Jonah Hauer-King, Ellie Bamber, Rafe Spall, Emily Beecham, Jonathan Pryce, Ben Kingsley
Running time: 2 hr 13 min