William Tell director Nick Hamm on why the apple scene is so relevant today: 'It cuts to the core'

What do you really know about William Tell and the famous scene, where a young boy has an apple shot from his head by his father? 

Perhaps you’re aware of the story but not sure of its context, when, or even how it happened. Yet it’s been a central image of European culture for hundreds of years. So, the question remains: why? And it was this question that made me want to make the movie William Tell. 

To do that, I used an early 19th century play by the brilliant and underperformed playwright Friedrich Schiller as my framework. He’s the only person of any repute to write down the legend of Tell, and he used it to explore the serious question of liberty. What individual liberty means, how to achieve it, how to keep it and, most importantly, the consequences of losing it and having to fight to get it back. 

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I thought there has to be a reason this story has survived for centuries. What does it say about us, about our need for leadership and heroes? Not the spurious, fanciful heroes of Hollywood but the real or imagined heroes that have shaped our discussions and our culture.  

William Tell has been used by movements throughout history and adapted for their particular causes. During the French Revolution, they saw Tell as an inspiration. The Nazis used him for different political reasons.  

In my case, it soon became easy to see why the story has endured and been adapted so frequently: it’s the apple scene. A scene that forms the beating heart at the centre of our film as well as Schiller’s play. A scene where every character in the film is present. And a scene that is without doubt one of the most vicious and savage portrayals of political terrorism one can imagine. 

Remove from your mind any of the simplistic, whimsical versions of a young boy being tied to a tree, an apple placed atop his head and being told to remain still while his father takes an impossible shot with his crossbow from an impossible distance. Take away the cliches and tropes of feathers in caps, leather breeches and portly men in medieval costume ordering peasants around.  

This scene has been portrayed through history as innocent, bucolic and gentle. Set against the beautiful backdrop of the Swiss Alps, the image has been repeated and re-repeated… but, in my opinion, wrongly.

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The real truth is brutal. The story takes place in Switzerland as they fight against the imperialistic Austrian Empire. A fascistic Austrian general, Gessler, orders a local Swiss hero, Tell, to publicly shoot an apple from his son’s head in the town square. Gessler has no doubt Tell will miss the shot and is therefore comfortable, giddy even, with the fact that he is ordering the public execution of a young Swiss boy.  

The boy’s death, in Gessler’s eyes, will not only affirm the Austrians’ dominance over the locals, but will also ensure that they discredit their hero, Tell, and give up their fledgling resistance. 

A father being asked to publicly execute his son is political vengeance made into theatre. Dominance by violence. Oppression by cruelty. These are common tools of the vengeful and the inhuman. It’s the political equivalent of men in yellow jumpsuits being filmed having their throats cut in the desert and it being published on social media.  

It’s savage, brutal and done with purpose. But most importantly, and most depressingly, it has real-life,
contemporary resonance. 

How much more can we put up with the endless march to war and the attendant excuses and reasons for it, paraded daily in our media? How much more can we endure the constant repeat of the cycle of violence throughout history? Our appetite is never satiated. We are the equivalent of the Roman plebeians so used to enduring the suffering of others that they forget about their own. 

William Tell is an anti-war movie. But to make an anti-war movie, you have to make a movie about war. 

It’s a grand, sweeping story from the old days with princes, princesses, baddies and goodies. I’ve done my best to steal from and replicate some of the best movies from this genre. And hopefully I’ve offered a fun, yet thought-provoking night out. 

Lose yourself in this story and visit a world often forgotten. Enjoy the ride. But remember: what you see happening is happening right now. The domination of the orthodox, whether political or religious. The domination and celebration of autocracy and the current destruction of the values long striven for and fought for in Europe. 

William Tell does not want to go to war – he knows the consequences. So should we. 

William Tell is in cinemas from 17 January.

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