(unknown charset) Re: Braveheart

From: (nil)
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 09:16:12 -0800

> > Regarding Braveheart, is it good for -anything-? Everyone
> > seems to have seen it, so it might make a good "bridge"
> > towards something - but what?
>
> It's a perfectly good fantasy film, I'd say. It bears little or no
> resemblance to anything in history, but then nor does Xena.

The difference between Braveheart and Xena is that Xena never pretended to be anything other than campy fantasy...

Now, I love campy fantasy as much as the next man (sometimes more). What I dislike intensely is fantasy wrapping itself in "the true story of..." history. Examples: Braveheart, King Arthur (the recent film with Arthur-as-Sarmatian), Gladiator, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (with Kevin Costner), U571, the patriot (with Mel Gibson as a Revolutionary War patriot). I'll take any number of Dragonheart, The Sword and the Sorcerer, Rocketeer, or Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow over those "true story" films any day.

That being said, there are stereotypes and exemplars in any film that are useful in playoing a game: "he's like Rick in Casablanca, but as played by Ronald Reagan" (a match that almost happened, btw).

Just don't use the "true history" films as exemplars of what life like or what actually happened in their era...

RR
C'est par mon ordre et pour le bien de l'Etat que le porteur du pr=C8sent a fait ce qu'il a fait.
- Richelieu

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