(Hi)stories on Film

[MintyJuffowup]

About two weeks ago I was struck by an obsessive yearning for historical films. Years ago, I would never have considered this a category I was particularly interested in, but as I grow older, I find myself less interested in science fiction and fantasy, both so often bending towards tropes and genericisms. In their place, I’ve found many historical films that really struck me by their alienness. The clothing, environs, and occupations were so different. Strangest of all were the systems of morality and justice; the works stood as good reminders of the plasticity of human experience.

My favorite of all are those histories outside of the dominant Euro-centric perspective. The Night of Counting the Years is an Egyptian movie about tomb robbers at the end of the 19th century. Ceddo is a Senegalese movie about one area cultural struggle with tradition and the two foreign influence of Islam and Christianity. How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman is a Brazilian movie about a colonist taken captive by cannibals. I treasure these movies and I want to see more like them.

Please use this space to discuss your thoughts on historical films, share your favorites, and hate on shit.

[SUPERSONNICK]

What really piques my interest are asian history reenactions, which generally boils down to massive! battles!
Or to use a famous quote from not so ancient history,

battles which actually which actually took place

not just in ancient Japan, but also China, Korea et al. Sprinkled with illustrous superimposed personalities that surpass mere human needs, we witness history in the making, and what I am always amused about, legendary monologues are held and the audience is expected to cling to each and every word that’s said in a deep, thinking mans voice. Rarely that we see women taking the centerstage in these flicks, even if that has been changing in the last decade+ or so.
We see inventions or cleverness change the outcome of history, but the Secret Stars are really the landscapes where history is … was made:

A boring brown CG field doesn’t make for EPIC HISTORY, so we get lush green fields and tricky mountain passes that are the stage for providing an uphill battle (often literally), ot even better — the sea!
Most nefarious of all enemies, it doesn’t show its face until the climatic battle, where the tide of war ( ) changes in favour of our (by then hopefully beloved) heroes, and what better way to celebrate that occasion with some general leaving his mere human flesh behind to become a spiritual rolemodel for eternity (about 1000 years max though) by virtue of giving up their life for a greater cause — unification, peace, prosperity.

Throw in some fancy gizmos that turned the tide of war (e.g. a turtle ship! no kidding, that’s a real thing… supposedly, haven’t been born back then to verify this myself ) and you got me covered.

Do i care if these war epics might, let’s say, slightly fine-tune reality so we get a better plot development? Not at all, because i always go into these flicks like I’d watch a Dynasty Warriors movie - entertain me, and I am a happy consumer, and afterwards i can wiki an alternate version of what i have just seen, so no big deal if the battle takes place 100 miles away from where it really went down.

so all in all, give me my samurai warriors movie where Motochika guitar heroes his foes away!

[MintyJuffowup]

Massive battles are a great time. Red Cliff, Baahubali, and even the recent Napoleon pull off the sort of character cunning that you describe. Those movies are more mythological than historical, but that brings me to explain the title of the thread. History lives most vividly in our minds as stories and begin to resemble fiction after some time. There are protagonists and antagonists, morals, and denouements. I don’t consider a fictional telling of history to be inherently flawed, however. It all depends on the artfulness of the storyteller.

I enjoy the work my mind does triangulating some meaning out of a historical story. The three points in the triangle are: myself in the present, the storyteller in their time, and the characters (real, imagined, or in-between) in theirs. The storyteller can’t help but present things in a mode that reflects concerns of their time. After all, why else would they be interested in telling the story in the first place? At the same time, I can’t help but interpret things through my own prejudiced lens. What were these humans really like? It feels impossible to say.

I watched Titus tonight and must say, it rules. If the plainest historical film is a triangle, than this is a very complicated polygon. Shakespeare isn’t even depicting a particular time in Rome so much as the concept itself. So when the film blends the settings of fascist Italy, imperial Rome, and modern excess, it feels appropriate to the bard’s anachronisms. I had never encountered Shakespeare’s play before the film, so I was surprised to see all the bloodshed and nihilism on display. There’s a black character who, to everyone else, personifies evil. He is gladly willing to play the part, too, because he hates the racist white society he is forced to mingle in. He is played exceptionally well by Harry Lennix. Anthony Hopkins does some bugged out stuff, too, like beg to get his hand cut off. It’s great.

Here are a few choice lines straight from the Swan himself.

I bring all-consuming sorrow to you in your old age.

Will it consume me? Let me see it, then.

Let fools do good and fair men call for grace; Aaron will have his soul black like his face.

 Villain, what hast thou done?

That which thou canst not undo.

Thou hast undone our mother.

Villain, I have done thy mother.

[mathcat]

[Arus]

If you want something a bit different I would really recommend The Other Conquest, a Mexican historical drama based on the aftermath of the Spanish Conquest of the Triple Alliance. Its got problems (Some budget-related, others not) but it I value its ambitions to reveal the mental colonisation of the Nahua peoples of Mexico. The appropriation and erasure of not just indigenous states and communities but also their underlying worldviews.

[Tulpa]

I hope Armenia is sufficiently non-euro

Sergei Parajanov is one of the greatest directors and Color of Pomegranates is his second masterpiece

[drastic_bb]

Chola Chola - Full Video | Ponniyin Selvan - 1 | Tamil | Vikram | AR Rahman | Sathya Pr...

loved ponniyin selvan 1&2, a duology of films adapted from a series of novels about a historical tamil dynasty