One of the greatest and most revered epic fantasy movies of the last few decades just joined the Pluto TV streaming library – The Green Knight. This acclaimed take on a 14th-century legend is now available to stream for free with ads for those who use Pluto TV. If you missed it in the theater or on its initial home video release, now is a great time to get acquainted with Sir Gawain.
The Green Knight stars Dev Patel as Sir Gawain, a legendary knight who goes looking for adventure and finds himself embodying a local legend. The movie was written and directed by David Lowery and it also stars Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris, Raliph Ineson and Barry Keoughan. At the time of its release, it was praised for offering a fresh take on a classic story and playing with themes that could have been much more stale in execution. The movie was also profitable, though just barely – making $19 million against a budget of $15 million.
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For history buffs, there was obviously a lot to love in The Green Knight. The earliest known publication of the legend was in a chivalric romance epic poem by an unknown author. It is considered one of the best-surviving examples of an Arthurian story and is essential to modern scholars’ understanding of Welsh, Irish, English and even French chivalric culture of the era. The story has been adapted many times over the years, and Lowery’s version is not shy about tweaking things to suit the tale.
Lowery told an interviewer from Vanity Fair that he believes the theme of his movie is integrity and righteousness for its own sake rather than for the pursuit of a legacy. It’s a highly personal story about Gawain’s development and his reckoning with his own deeds. By contrast, medieval scholars generally view the original folk tale as a “temptation fable,” depicting a knight on the brink of violating his own chivalric code. It is unique in that the audience sometimes understands Gawain’s situation better than he does, meaning that he does not always know what the “righteous” action is.
You can see the story for yourself now on Pluto TV – a free ad-supported streaming television service (FAST) owned and operated by Paramount Streaming. The app is available on most popular streaming devices as well as mobile devices, and it is free to sign up. Fans will find all kinds of content in its library with no challenge of their chivalric honor required.
