Six films to fall for

Posted on 1 July, 2019

To rise, to lift one’s head above others is to invite the fall.

To place an idol, a leader, a hero on a pedestal is to place them at the precipice. As voyeurs, we may relish this fall but we still hope for redemption by the final reel.

Roslyn Hull lines up six films about the rise and fall of a hero for our autumn edition of Magazine: Fall.

A Star is Born

Of the four versions I have seen, James Mason’s fallen movie idol is the most tragic but Bradley Cooper’s fallen rock god is the most believable. His performance is raw and powerful.

Frozen

Prince Hans single-handedly demonstrated, for an entire generation of Disney-obsessed littlies, that princes aren’t always true and handsome men can’t be trusted…and that betrothal at first sight will always be a bad idea.

Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

From Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader. We knew it was going to happen but it was still upsetting. In the hands of a better actor it could have been the saddest movie of all time, with Hayden Christensen it was just brutal.

The Aviator

A brilliant inventor and businessman willing to take enormous risks is also germ phobic.

As his business empire implodes he retreats from the world and descends into unsanitary insanity.

Outlaw King

Finally, a fall that comes before the rise. A Scottish prince, who betrays his people by collecting taxes for the English, murders a rival, and is outlawed by the English still soldiers on to become Scotland’s most beloved king, Robert the Bruce.

The depiction of the Battle of Bannockburn is excellent.

I, Tonya

It isn’t just the men that fall. Dragged up by her own bootstraps Tonya Harding fought for everything she got but—in the end—tripped up on her own skate laces and was the unapologetic instrument of her own downfall.

This article originally appeared in Magazine: FALL for Autumn/Winter 2019, available for free while stocks last. Find out more about Magazine here.

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