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Ridley Scott should not make historical films

posted a year ago by willjbeau (725)
8 replies | jump to latest

Jesus Christ, I haven't even seen this, but this detail from Wikipedia is so dumb I never will:

The film presents Napoleon as firing on the Pyramids of Giza, which never happened.[77] Cairo egyptologist Salima Ikram pointed out that Napoleon held the Sphinx and the pyramids in high esteem and used them as motivation for his troops. "He definitely did not take pot shots at them."[84] In an interview with The Times, Scott defended his depiction of the attack on the pyramids as being "a fast way of saying [Napoleon] took Egypt."[85]

That's right, kids, there's just no way to make it clear to the audience that Egypt is being attacked without involving the pyramids. Audiences are soooo dumb that way, am I right?

[–] xergan (1067) a year ago

If it was Scotts intention to symbolize that he took Egypt, then he failed on my side. Especially the scenes afterwards sounded to me more like he might control now the Pyramids, but not at all Egypt.

[–] Information-Police (4889) a year ago

I learned that Napolean's troops actually did wreck the face of the Sphinx by using it for target practice. With their rifles, though, not with cannons. Maybe that was myth?

[–] millsey72 (10241) a year ago

Did Ridley Scott tell you that?

[–] TheGutterMonkey (298) a year ago

Whether they did anything to the face, who's to say. But as far as how it was destroyed (i.e., the missing nose), there were sketches of the Sphinx's messed up face from well before Napoleon was even born.

[–] [deleted] a year ago

To be fair, have you met some of the unwashed masses these days?

[–] mikethemartian (6705) a year ago

I just saw the film and I remember the segment in Egypt but I don’t remember him attacking the pyramid. The main scene was his fascination with one of the mummified bodies which I assume was a leader.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8707) a year ago

He does have a canon fired upon one of the pyramids.

[–] chumbawampa (732) a year ago

He should retire from directing altogether.

Let's be honest Prometheus sucked.