What do you do if something injustice happened in front of your eyes? Do you rise and fight or do you do nothing and just let it be? Well, I keep thinking about it after I watch a film by Justin Chadwick, The Other Boleyn Girl.
This film is about luxurious and sensual tale of conspiracy, romance and betrayal set against the time of a defining moment in European history: two beautiful sisters, Anne and Mary Boleyn, driven by their family's blind ambition, compete for the love of the handsome and passionate King Henry VIII.
King Henry VIII of England and his wife Katherine of Aragon are having marital problems over the inability of Katherine to have a son, a male heir to secure England during that time. Duke of Norfolk, the uncle of Anne, Mary and George Boleyn along with Sir Thomas, the Boleyn’s father have a vicious plan to set up the king with Anne and make Anne have a son with the King. Thus, a visit to the Boleyn family house by the King is plan. I start to open my eyes wide starting from this point of this story. How could a father, could plan such thing for his ambition using his daughter as a whore?
King Henry, desperate at the time to get a son, fall for the innocence one Mary after he been humiliated by Anne. However, by the time, Mary had been married to William Carey. But as the King order Mary to stay in the court, she always under his eye. His husband then is given a place in the Privy Council. This surely show injustice. An authority use his overwhelming power to his citizen. The citizen cannot say anything and must need to follow everything the King wanted. If they are rebel against the King, they will be charged under treason and will be punished to death.
Anne, in other hand felt injustice happened to her. How could her sister got everything she ever wanted. Because of this, Anne had a secret marriage with nobel man Henry Percy. Concerned that Anne will ruin her reputation by marrying a nobleman without the King's consent, she alerts her father and uncle of the union. They confront Anne, who argues that the marriage has been consummated and what is done before God cannot be undone, and she is exiled to France in disgrace. Injustice happened again. Power of the authority had been abused till the point that they can even separated husband and wife. And again, the citizen must obey everything they wanted.
After Anne had been exiled to France, The Boleyn family's fortunes seem to be secured when Mary becomes pregnant. When she nearly suffers a miscarriage, she is confined to bed for the remainder of her pregnancy, and Norfolk recalls Anne to England to keep Henry's attention from wandering to another rival, particularly Jane Seymour. Anne successfully embarks on a campaign to seduce Henry, revealing herself to be more sophisticated and accomplished than she was prior to her exile. By withholding her sexual favors, she ensures the king's continued interest, finally making him promise never to bed his wife or speak to her sister in exchange for her giving him hope of eventually possessing her. Anne exacts this promise just after Mary gives birth to the much-anticipated son, making Mary's triumph hollow. How could a human do that to her sister? More, because of lust and desperation, a father abandoned his own son. Injustice really in the core of the world.
After that, the ambitious Anne encourages Henry to break from the Roman Catholic Church when Pope Clement VII refuses to annul his marriage to Katherine. Henry succumbs to Anne's demands, declares himself the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and divorces his wife. Anne weds Henry and becomes Queen of England. Her e show another injustice, why the citizen need to take a burden because of the King’s foolness? After the tragedy, England had been viewed never the same by the great church. They suffer an exile by the church.
Despite the birth of a healthy daughter, Elizabeth, Henry is unhappy with Anne's failure to deliver a son and legitimate male heir to the throne. After she miscarries their second child, a now desperate Anne asks her brother George to try to impregnate her. Although he ultimately refuses to grant her request, his neglected wife Jane witnesses enough of their encounter to become suspicious. Her testimony leads to the arrest, trial, and execution of both George and Anne. This in the other hand show an injustice. Evil thinking is not that something can be punishable under the human law. More, in the story, they do not even do what they plan but still, they were punished without enough evidence. And the innocence Mary returns to court to plead for her sister's life, but Henry refuses to intercede. He warns Mary never to come to court again, because her family's disgrace could result in danger to her as well. Mary fulfills her last promise to Anne and takes care of her infant daughter.
Despite the birth of a healthy daughter, Elizabeth, Henry is unhappy with Anne's failure to deliver a son and legitimate male heir to the throne. After she miscarries their second child, a now desperate Anne asks her brother George to try to impregnate her. Although he ultimately refuses to grant her request, his neglected wife Jane witnesses enough of their encounter to become suspicious. Her testimony leads to the arrest, trial, and execution of both George and Anne. This in the other hand show an injustice. Evil thinking is not that something can be punishable under the human law. More, in the story, they do not even do what they plan but still, they were punished without enough evidence. And the innocence Mary returns to court to plead for her sister's life, but Henry refuses to intercede. He warns Mary never to come to court again, because her family's disgrace could result in danger to her as well. Mary fulfills her last promise to Anne and takes care of her infant daughter.
In the last part of the story, at last the justice show. All the evil one is punished by the god. Sir Thomas die in disgrace, and the evil mastermind Norfolk along with his family was punish to death under treason. In the other hand, Mary lived happily in the county with her son and Anne’s daughter, Elizabeth, that later, ruled England in prosperity for forty-two years. Well, what I can conclude here after watching the movie is, every injustice happened will cause bad omen and we as human, must always believe deeply in our heart that there will be always a divine judgement that we can never escaped from it. Like Martin Luther King once said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. Think about it.
