Ridley Scott successfully angered historians

Every time Ridley Scott presents a historical project, historians tremble. Although the British director has directed films set in distant eras, ‘Napoleon’ clashed with classical history experts. The controversy over Scott’s depiction of the French general appears to repeat in ‘Gladiator II’.

Napoleon, but less. The Joaquin Phoenix film’s first trailer heated things up. Historians objected to everything from minor inaccuracies (artistic licence) to major historical distortions. You can see French artillery firing at the pyramids during their Egypt campaign. French historian Georges Mourier says Napoleon “never ordered the bombing of the pyramids” because “is the basis of modern Egyptology!”

Live France. The film’s errors include Marie Antoinette’s execution being missed by her husband, who was at the siege of Toulon. Historians mocked the soldiers’ “Vive La France” shout in perfect French with an Anglo-Saxon accent. Napoleon’s plans and findings are also distorted: he is presented as a French crown successor when in his 1804 oath he mentioned wanting to break with previous kings and named himself emperor. Mourier says “many geopolitical elements” are missing to explain Bonaparte’s decisions.

He provokes. In promoting ‘Napoleon’, Ridley Scott compared the French general to Alexander the Great, Hitler, and Stalin, causing controversy. Scott then clashed with historians, such as when the BBC asked him about French criticism and he replied: “Do you really want me to answer that? The censorship whistle will sound.” He told his interviewer, “Were you there?” and advised critics to “buy a life” in the Twitter polemicist style. You weren’t there. How do you know?” He called Europa Press’s anti-French claims “absolute bullshit.”

This applies to everything. At The Film Experience, they examined Ridley Scott’s career in terms of historical rigor and found that only his debut, ‘The Duellists’ (and in its own way, ‘The Last Duel’, though from a more authorial perspective), had the ambition to be faithful to history, largely due to Kubrick’s ‘Barry Lyndon’. In ‘1492: Conquest of Paradise’, Columbus arrives in America to Vangelis’ rhythm, and in ‘Kingdom of Heaven’, he modernizes characters, costumes, and dialogue to send a message.

Gladiator II goes on. New Ridley Scott film seems to be following suit. Many critics have praised it, but historians like Shadi Bartsch call it “total Hollywood crap.” Bartsch acknowledges that the Colosseum was turned into a giant shark pool for naval battles, but “I don’t think the Romans knew what a shark was.”

About a century. The film has many anachronisms. Macrinus, Denzel Washington’s character, appears in a café, which did not exist in Rome until the 18th century, and a nobleman reads a newspaper before the printing press. Details that will add or subtract depending on how each viewer values historical accuracy in an escapism film. Scott is ready to fight, regardless of opinion.

Ridley Scott successfully angered historians

By ki0nk

Related Post

This Netflix sci-fi series has a perfect score

Mergers, acquisitions, and “chaos

All programs in their time slot