I just literally came out of the cinema twenty minutes ago, cycled home and while on my way, I pondered what I have just seen. It’s late here. Ridley Scott’s 2023 film Napoleon is… something. As a film, it’s honestly rather enjoyable. Strictly as a film, a creative work of fiction. From a historical perspective, it’s an absolute travesty.
The biggest feeling I have after watching the film is one of disappointment. I want to shout into the skies: “Why must movies ALWAYS belittle great men?” Why must they, almost compulsively, diminish a man’s greatness? They can’t just let Napoleon Bonaparte, the Emperor, the Conqueror, the Reformer, be great. Oh no. He has to be made into a simp, a loser, a pathetic, pitiful creature constantly cuckolded by his wife and remaining slavishly devoted to her. Childish, throwing tantrums, utterly lacking in social graces to the point where he’d make a baboon blush.
His bedroom prowess is made fun of. Constantly. Hell, it’s even implied that Napoleon, who famously fathered several bastard children, was unsure of his ability to even father a child until his MOTHER(!) placed a young virgin in his bed chambers and made him drink himself into the courage to produce his first bastard son… by the end of the movie, even the Tsar of Russia visits his ex-wife and is heavily insinuated to have an affair with her.
I wanted goosebump moments. Grand speeches. Intrigue. I wanted to feel the power of a man who bent the world to his will, a man who reshaped Europe forever through his power of imagination. I wanted to see the glory. Light-hearted moments would have been fine… but why make a great man into a pitiful one? Why diminish his masculinity just for cheap laughs? I came out this film feeling dirty. Like I just saw greatness besmirched for no other reason than because Ridley Scott could.
alfie
npub16t…4w7sn
2024-01-08 01:26:52
in reply to nevent1q…9enc
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2024-01-08 01:26:52Event JSON
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"content": "I just literally came out of the cinema twenty minutes ago, cycled home and while on my way, I pondered what I have just seen. It’s late here. Ridley Scott’s 2023 film Napoleon is… something. As a film, it’s honestly rather enjoyable. Strictly as a film, a creative work of fiction. From a historical perspective, it’s an absolute travesty.\n\nThe biggest feeling I have after watching the film is one of disappointment. I want to shout into the skies: “Why must movies ALWAYS belittle great men?” Why must they, almost compulsively, diminish a man’s greatness? They can’t just let Napoleon Bonaparte, the Emperor, the Conqueror, the Reformer, be great. Oh no. He has to be made into a simp, a loser, a pathetic, pitiful creature constantly cuckolded by his wife and remaining slavishly devoted to her. Childish, throwing tantrums, utterly lacking in social graces to the point where he’d make a baboon blush.\n\nHis bedroom prowess is made fun of. Constantly. Hell, it’s even implied that Napoleon, who famously fathered several bastard children, was unsure of his ability to even father a child until his MOTHER(!) placed a young virgin in his bed chambers and made him drink himself into the courage to produce his first bastard son… by the end of the movie, even the Tsar of Russia visits his ex-wife and is heavily insinuated to have an affair with her.\nI wanted goosebump moments. Grand speeches. Intrigue. I wanted to feel the power of a man who bent the world to his will, a man who reshaped Europe forever through his power of imagination. I wanted to see the glory. Light-hearted moments would have been fine… but why make a great man into a pitiful one? Why diminish his masculinity just for cheap laughs? I came out this film feeling dirty. Like I just saw greatness besmirched for no other reason than because Ridley Scott could.",
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