Our Love Brought Down A Kingdom

I have to confess, I may have been wrong about the Romeo & Juliet genre movies. Yesterday, I watched Tristan and Isolde, and though the movie was never promoted as a R&J type, it had some similar elements. Two young people who are not supposed to like each other (Tristan - James Franco - a British warrior, second to the throne and Isolde - Sophia Myles - the princess of Ireland) because their countries are in the midst of a feud, fall in love. Here's a little bit about the movie - I am writing this not because it is a review or I mean to spoil the ending, which I'm going to do anyways, but because after watching the movie I was so depressed at the character's love and I absolutely love the movie.
When Tristan is a young boy his village is raided by the Irish. His father dies, and his uncle loses his hand saving him. All around the country, villages are destroyed and pretty much in the ruins. They rebuild.
A few years pass, letting the boy-Tristan grow into the beautiful James Franco and turn him into a ruthless warrior. Over in Ireland, Isolde is promised to an Irish warrior and she loathes the very thought.
Back in Britain, the Brits attack a group of Irish warriors travelling through (I figure they were on their way to kill some more British folks) the country and, surprise, surprise, Tristan kills Isolde's betrothed. That is, of course, after he gets a chop to the stomach from the guy's sword which has to be laced with nerve killing poison. The Brits win the battle, but Tristan and another guy die and are set out on the sea on burning boats.
Tristan's boat doesn't burn him up, and eventually he washes up on the Irish shore where good old Isolde and Brania (her caretaker) are taking a stroll. Over a few days or weeks, Isolde nurses Tristan back to health (she cures his poisoning only because she is somewhat of a potion maker). She is warned by Brania not to tell him her real name and so tells him her name is Brania. "Brania" and Tristan canoodle.
After the Irish King finds Tristan's funeral boat on the beach, "Brania" has to get him out of the country quickly. Before he gets into his paddleboat, he begs her to come with him, and of course she can't. He goes back to Britain.
There is a traitor to the Brits, I can't remember his name, but he schemes with the Irish King so that he can become king of Britain. The King agrees.
He sets up a contest so that whoever wins gets to marry Isolde, thereby making him the king of Britain. Tristan enters on behalf of his uncle, completely oblivious to the fact that Isolde is "Brania", therefore, setting himself up for disaster.
Tristan wins the contest, much to the excitement of Isolde who watches, veiled, from her seat in the stands, but when he realizes she is the girl who saved him, he is sad, and when she learns that he has won her for another man, she is sad.
Tristan, true to his uncle and king, mopes around and doesn't try to get Isolde at all. It is only during a very fun-for-the-audience scene when the British King ushers Tristan to have love in his life (Isolde is there too, speaking poeticly about love to Tristan in front of her husband) that Tristan and Isolde start their secret affair.
After a while, they are caught kissing in the woods by the Irish King, who has a spazz attack and starts a war with the British King. The British King is crushed that his nephew, whose life, if you remember, he saved at the loss of his hand, would do that to him.
Of course, Isolde tells her husband of how they met, and, being the good guy he is, he lets them go. A boat is left at the riverside for their escape, then, my favourite line in the movie:
(Isolde is in the boat and Tristan is pushing it out. She thinks he will jump in once they get far enough, but then he says this)
"For all time they will say it was our love, brought down a kingdom. Remember us."
(then he pushes the boat away).
It is the most heartbreaking thing in the world.
Then he goes back to the castle and fights and tries to help out his uncle, who even after all the drama, is happy to see him. Tristan kills the traitor, the one who will signal the Irish King to invade once the British King is dead. Of course, the traitor stabs Tristan through the heart.
Tristan cuts off his head, then he, the survivors, and the British King go to the drawbridge and make a speech to the warriors outside. They all end up killing the Irish King (who is standing there waiting for the warriors to kill the British King et al), and Tristan falls, starts to die on the drawbridge. The British King takes him to the riverside, per Tristan's request and Isolde is brought there too (I guess she paddled back to shore). Tristan dies.
The epilogue (the only way they actually can do an epilogue during a movie - a small explaitory paragraph) said that she put his ashes in a monument after his cremation. It went on to say that, in fact, their love had not brought down a kingdom, but instead lead it to Britain's end of submission under Ireland and prosper after the fall of the Roman Empire.
The End.

I absolutely loved this movie. And not just because I'm a girl. There was a spectacular amount of romance and subtle looks and how people said things that made it perfect. There were a lot of sex scenes (all tastefully done, of course), but it kind of got a bit much after the third or fourth one. I guess they were necessary to show how many places Tristan and Isolde got it on, but hey, they were in love so whatever. There were a lot of war scenes as well. A lot of it was very fast, so sometimes I couldn't tell what was going on or who was just killed or who just killed who, and the fact that neither side had distinguishing clothing or marks to say which side they were on made it just a little confusing. But, all in all, the movie was spectacular, and I usually stray away from movies with the theme of "eternal love". I love James Franco, and after watching Rufus Sewell (the King of Britain) in the first good guy role I've seen him in, I love him too. I love the movie. I love that it didn't end entirely happy. I love that the movie was perfect from opening credits to epilogue and I want to buy it so I can become obsessed with it like I'm obsessed with The Nightmare before Christmas.
Perhaps I will ask for it for Christmas.
Perhaps, perhaps.