Despite several changes and additions to the text of Malory, this movie represents in a unified manner and generally faithful to the work, the legend of Arthur from his birth to his death as the entire corpus of these legends (the “Matter of Britain”) tells. Therefore, there is not in this movie an attempt to historical research on the legend, like with other movies on this same subject, such as “King Arthur”, but there is only and exclusively the legend, devoid of historical speculation and opinions.
Indeed, the merit of Boorman in this movie, which makes it almost unique among the many titles that exist on King Arthur’s legend, is to have told this story coming back to its most distant origins, which have their roots in the ancient Celtic world and in its mythology, abandoning and ignoring completely all the subsequent influences belonging to another age; influences that instead are prominent in the text of Malory.
Among the changes, the most important-ones are:
the concept of the “Dragon”; the fact that in the movie it is the betrayal of Lancelot and mainly the betrayal of Guinevere, to cause the weakening of King Arthur, and so the decadence of the Kingdom; for to renew the Kingdom it is so necessary to find the lost Grail, and the Secret of the Grail itself. As someone says, certainly there are been times in which King Arthur repented for having drawn the sword from the stone, but he never renounced his quest.
The movie can be divided into five parts:
-the story of Uther Pendragon;
-Arthur becoming King, and his conquests;
-the story of Lancelot and Guinevere;
-the decadence of the Kingdom and the quest for the Grail;
-Mordred and the death of King Arthur;
For to read my complete article, this is the Link:
http://luthoralexander.blogspot.com/2010/03/boormans-excalibur-and-legend-of-king.html
Alexander Luthor 