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William Tell
Movie

William Tell

2025 • Unknown

Woke Score
4
out of 10

Plot

The narrative unfolds in the 14th Century, when the European nations vie for supremacy within the Holy Roman Empire. The ambitious Austrian Empire, desiring more land, invades neighbouring Switzerland, a serene and pastoral nation. Protagonist William Tell, a formerly peaceful hunter, finds himself forced to take action as his family and homeland come under threat from the oppressive Austrian King and his ruthless warlords.

Overall Series Review

The 2025 adaptation of William Tell attempts to repackage the classic folk tale as a 'modern morality tale,' resulting in a film that imports contemporary ideological themes into a historical period piece. The narrative remains structurally conservative, focusing on a male hero defending his homeland, family, and sovereignty against an oppressive empire. The primary woke insertion is the race-swap of Tell's wife, which is a revisionist move that one critic explicitly attributes to appealing to the 'woke brigade.' The film's engagement with historical Western heritage is mixed, simultaneously celebrating the Swiss national-liberation myth while explicitly framing the Crusades as a period of 'bigoted cruelty.' Gender themes are present but moderate, with a strong female political figure rejecting her noble lineage, but the central family unit remains intact and threatened by male tyranny. The focus is on political oppression and personal revenge, leaving little room for sexual ideology or extreme anti-theism, resulting in a moderate overall 'woke' score driven largely by the identity politics revisionism.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics7/10

Tell's wife is race-swapped from the traditional white Swiss Hedwig to Suna, an Iranian/Muslim woman, a change explicitly noted as an update for the 'woke brigade.' Tell’s history as a Crusader is sanitized, making him one of the 'good ones' in what the movie calls a time of 'bigoted cruelty.' These forced narrative changes prioritize modern diversity and political correctness over historical or traditional fidelity to the source legend.

Oikophobia6/10

The film retains the core pro-national liberation story of Swiss peasants defending their home against the Austrian Habsburg Empire. However, a major historical Western institution, the Crusades, is framed as a time of 'bigoted cruelty.' A main character, Princess Bertha, overtly rejects her 'blue blood' and class heritage to align with the 'proletariat,' indicating hostility toward traditional Western aristocratic structures. The director's stated intent was to create a 'modern morality tale' from the source material.

Feminism4/10

The main female character, Princess Bertha, actively rejects her nobility to support the common people’s cause. The movie uses the rape-murder of a Swiss farmer’s wife as a brutal inciting incident for male revenge, which reduces the female character to a plot device for male action. Tell's wife is an active figure in the plot, though the focus is on the protection of the family unit, keeping the score from rising to the level of 'Girl Boss' tropes.

LGBTQ+1/10

The narrative centers on the traditional male-female pairing of William Tell and Suna, and the male-led rebellion against tyranny. No presence of alternative sexualities, gender ideology, or deconstruction of the nuclear family is evident in the plot points.

Anti-Theism3/10

The film critiques the historical actions associated with a religious conflict by calling the Crusades a time of 'bigoted cruelty.' However, the overall moral arc is one of transcendent morality, with the theme of 'God’s 'yes' is stronger than man’s 'no'' and the final action involving Tell seeking 'absolution... from the Pope,' which acknowledges religious authority as a source of moral law.