Rent One Nation, One King (2018)

difficult to follow - One Nation, One King review by RD

This is a historical drama covering the years after the French revolution from 1789 to 1792, at least for the part of the film we actually watched. It starts slowly with the recognisable storming of the Bastille, but then the plot degenerates into meetings, clashes between factions and some goings on with the King.

Although I did the French Revolution for O level many years ago, badly I'm afraid, this film should be prefaced with a study into the progress and features of the years covered. I found it impossible to follow the storyline as there were so many scenes that I couldn't have known about who or where the characters involved were. It was even difficult to see what revolutionary side most of the characters were on.

As an example we are shown a scene where it looks like the King manages to escape, but then he is shown in a following scene behind bars in what looks like maybe a courtroom or parliament, as it's unclear where the scene is set. This is where an in-depth study of the history books may help interpret the film.

It's well filmed but so difficult to follow we ditched it at about the halfway mark, puzzled and exhausted from trying to decipher the plot.