This densely-packed five-episode historical overview looks at the centuries-old significance of the Magna Carta and its lasting effects on the relationship between individuals and the state. Moving rapidly through four centuries of Britain's on-and-off conflicts between royalty and the rebel barons who sought basic freedoms, the opening episode begins with a dramatization of an unpopular King John showing up at Runnymeade, near Windsor, in 1215 to sign the Magna Carta (“Great Charter”). This charter guaranteed protections (in the areas of church rights, swift justice, and the end of illegal imprisonment), limits on taxation, and the establishment of a council of barons to implement the changes. These reforms were quickly challenged or amended by John's successors to the throne, but gained more and more traction over the years until the late 17th century, when a constitutional monarchy became the norm. Historical re-enactments are employed to underscore various key moments involving seminal figures such as Oliver Cromwell, as the documentary traces the evolution of freedom and due process into the political mainstream (although that early progressiveness was not for the common man but rather the aristocracy). It would take the U.S. Constitution to make possible a wider application of the core ideas of the Magna Carta, the continuing relevance of which is explored in the remaining episodes. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (T. Keogh)
Magna Carta Unlocked
(2016) 2 discs. 250 min. DVD: $24.99. DRA. Vision Video (avail. from most distributors). Volume 32, Issue 1
Magna Carta Unlocked
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