作者：乌托邦

已经是第二次看这部电影了。 a man for all seasons.

then did I find out this is one of the best movies ever according to some
objective standards.

that I was a convinced again by the beauty of his simplicity yet confident and
reasonable tones.

that again I have questioned myself wow, still a long way to go with no signs
of ending.

It is already beyond some conflict between fire and bloods, sometimes, words
can touch your sense much more than what you thought. and poor hollywood and
shallow me, besides, after a whole bunch of years developing, what they can
present to us are nothing but sound and images.

Then I did a little bit research. u guys know the little annoying and ugly
Richard Rich in the movie, he is the one that plays as Chancellor again in you
know what, V for Vendetta.

Sir Thomas More (1477 - 1535)

Thomas More - lawyer, prolific writer, MP and statesman - was Chancellor of
England between 1529 and 1532. He rose to prominence early in the 16th century
as Under-sheriff of London and one of Henry VIII s most effective and trusted
civil servants, acting as the King s secretary, interpreter, speech-writer,
chief diplomat, advisor and confidant. In 1521 he was made the Kingdom s
Undertreasurer and knighted, and in 1523 he became the Speaker of the House of
Commons.

At the same time More was building up a reputation as one of Europe s leading
scholars. He was close to the radical catholic theologian Erasmus, but wrote
polemics against Martin Luther and the protestant reformation. Around 1515 he
wrote The History of Richard III which established that king s reputation as a
tyrant and has been described as the first masterpiece of English
historiography; and in 1516 published his most important work Utopia - a
description of an imaginary communist republic ruled by reason and intended to
contrast sharply with the strife-ridden reality of contemporary Europe
politics.

Despite his own free-thinking, More was a passionate defender of Catholic
orthodoxy - writing pamphlet after pamphlet against heresy, banning and
confiscating unorthodox books, and even taking personal responsibility when
Chancellor for the interrogation, whipping and burning of English heretics.

More took on the post of Lord Chancellor just when King Henry had become
determined to obtain a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, something forbidden
by church law. The previous Chancellor, Lord Wolsey, had failed to achieve
this objective, Henry was close to breaking with the Church of Rome, and the
so-called Reformation Parliament was about to convene. More was opposed to
Henry s policy.

When Henry declared himself Supreme Head of the Church in England - thus
establishing the Anglican Church and allowing him to set aside his marriage -
More resigned the Chancellorship to be replaced as the King s main advisor by
Thomas Cromwell. He continued to argue against the King s divorce and the
split with Rome, and in 1534 was arrested after refusing to swear an Oath of
Succession repudiating the Pope and accepting the annulment of the marriage to
Catherine. Fifteen months later More was tried for treason at Westminster, and
on July 6th 1535 he was executed by beheading on Tower Hill.

In 1935 Thomas More was recognised as a catholic saint.