Category Archives: TV and Film

The life of Napoleon Bonaparte has been documented more times than any other person in history with over 40000 books and 11 movies. From Abels Gance’s seminal 1927 Napoleon Biography to the big budget Waterloo starring Rod Steiger as the emperor. Stanley Kubrick spent several years developing a Napoleon Biopic only to have it shelved on budgetary grounds.

This then brings me to Ridley Scots much-anticipated addition to the Napoleon canon, which had been gestating in Scott’s head for many years, and with Writer David Scarpa on board with Joaquin Phoenix playing the iconic general, the omens were good for an old-fashioned epic in the mould of David Lean. Unfortunately, what we got is 160 minutes of the Napoleon and Josephine soap opera with a couple of short battles thrown in for good measure.

The film starts with Napoleon as a young 23-year-old lowly cavalry officer played by a 51-year-old Phoenix without any attempt at all to de-age him. His strong American accent further adds to the almost comic nature of the character. However, for reasons not given, this young officer is given the command of removing the British forces from the fort at Toulon. He then explains his plan to his commanding officer in a very quiet, nervous tone as if making it up as he goes. In fact the real Napoleon had spent a considering amount of time analysing the fort, terrain and tactical locations of the British forces before he introduced his audacious plan to his seasoned Generals. Napoleon fought bravely despite being sworded in the leg and against all odds, the fort was taken with the British fleeing. This segment as a whole is a film in itself as it first demonstrates Napoleons Genius in both Military and logistical planning and would have given a great insight in to his mind-set. The ultimate attack on the fort would have made a great finale to any film version.

However, here lies the problem with Scott’s film. At 2 hours and 38 minutes, the runtime is too short to encompass all the key events in Napoleons life, and like the siege of Toulon, events are rushed along with no real insight in to character motivations or explanations and we are then hurried to the next scene without any emotional glue as a linkage. Before the popcorn has even finished Napoleon is crowned Emperor and one is left wondering how he got to this pivotal moment. The script rushes along at a speedy pace and a lot of exposition has clearly been left on the cutting room floor.

The battle scenes are few and far between and then cut short, taking us straight after to long drawn out conversations between the two lovebirds. Pacing was definitely an issue.

Vanessa Kirby is fine as Josephine, although the actress is 20 years younger than Phoenix; Josephine was in fact 6 years older than Napoleon, but this is merely a trivial detail as the film takes great artistic license with many events and situations. However, it is Phoenix’s performance, which is the weak link here. There is no chemistry between the protagonists and I was continually wondering what Josephine found attractive in the unlikeable, awkward Napoleon with the personality of a wet slipper. The same Napoleon could not organise a game of football, never mind conquer most of Europe.

First-hand accounts tell us is that the real Napoleon was a very confident, witty, highly intellectual and attractive personality. He had a fierce temper an icy stare, and a smile that was very charismatic.

He rose from relative obscurity and as Emperor he instituted a number of lasting reforms: He reduced the power of the church and pushed Science, he reformed public education based on the ideals of reason and use of intelligent debate to build an ordered society. He centralised administration of government, a central bank, a road and sewer system and the legal system. The legal reforms became known as the Napoleonic code and remain to this day the cornerstone of modern law in 21st century Europe. He instigated religious freedom and whenever his armies entered European cities, they liberated the Jews, giving them civil and religious liberties at a time of widespread anti-Semitism.

He was also the greatest military leader that ever lived. His brilliant tactics at the battle of Austerlitz, his greatest victory, when the heavily outnumbered French forces routed the might of the combined Austrian and Russian armies is required learning in military academies to this day.

All this is omitted from the film and instead we get a version of Napoleon as an odd, comical character who merely stands and watches, as the battles are unfolding and lowering and raising his right arm at opportune moments.

I am not sure why Ridley Scott chose this particular historical figure. He clearly had no interest in understanding who Napoleon really was or to create a realistic portrait of what made the man tick. A case in point was the infamous scene showing Napoleon shooting at the pyramids. Basic research would have found that he had extremely high intelligence and was an avid reader of science, mathematics and history. He adored ancient history and prior to the Egypt campaign, he read the Koran and learnt Arabic to allow him to deal effectively with the tribal leaders. He also took with him Scientists and Archaeologists to examine the monuments and It was here that the Rosetta stone was found which led to archaeologists being able read Egyptian hieroglyphics. Napoleon was in awe of the ancient monuments and would never have fired on the pyramids. This complete disregard for the true personality of the man who is the main focus of this biographical film is quite surprising.

Despite the negatives, there are some good points from the film. The Cinematography by Dariusz Wolski is sumptuous and clearly modelled on the famous paintings of Jacques-Louis David and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and the costume design will almost certainly get an Oscar nod.

My 2023 New Year’s resolution was to learn as much as possible about the Heroic age of Polar Exploration (1897 to 1922). Nine months, and several books later I have just completed my final book and what a read it was.

The Worst Journey in the World is a gripping account of Captain Scott’s Tera Nova Expedition whose ultimate aim was to reach the South Pole. This they did but perished on the return journey.

Apsley Cherry-Garrard was the youngest member of the Expedition and later part of the rescue party team that found the frozen bodies of Scott and the three men who had accompanied him on the final push to the Pole.

Despite the horrors that Scott and his men eventually faced, Cherry-Garrard’s account is filled with details of scientific discovery and anecdotes of human resilience in a harsh environment, supported by diary excerpts and accounts from other explorers. The Worst Journey in the World is the most celebrated and compelling of all the books on Antarctic exploration.

Some 250 million years ago, 90% of all life on Earth was suddenly wiped out in a geological instant, in what became the greatest mass extinction of all time. The event which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs pales in to insignificance compared to this. What caused such a catastrophe is the central theme of distinguished Palaeontologist Michaels Bentons’ fascinating if not riveting book.

Perhaps too much emphasis is placed on periphery topics such as the historical advent of geology, the science of stratigraphy and the evolution of how layers of rock and fossils are dated and the events leading up to the extinction are long and exhaustive but the sixty four thousand dollar question as to what may have caused the great extinction represents perhaps the final dozen pages in a rather detailed book.

Aimed more towards students of Palaeontology and geology, any lay person with an interest in what happened would probably be best hunting down a National Geographic documentary on YouTube. 

My fascination with soviet history continues with Solzhenitsyn’s Nobel Prize winning damning inditement of the brutal forced labour camps of the gulag system. Although a work of fiction, Solzhenitsyn himself spent many years in such a camp for merely making a derogatory remark about Stalin and indeed many would argue that the character of Ivan Denisovich is modelled around Solzhenitsyn himself and his personal experiences. The book was released eight years after Stalin’s death and the brutal and shocking glimpse of the fate of millions of Russians under Stalin shook Russia and shocked the world. Solzhenitsyn was denounced by hardliners but the damage had already been done.

After reading several books on Vladimir Putin and a rather deep analysis of Joseph Stalins years in power, my latest read is a continuation of the Russian/soviet theme.

Although millions of people perished in them, the true history of Soviet Union’s concentration camps was, until recently, not widely known. Here, for the first time is the story of how the unfortunate victims lived, worked and survived to bear witness to one of histories most terrible crimes.

A horrifying yet fascinating account of Soviet Dicatator Joseph Stalins years in power from 1922 to 1953, looking in particular at the intrigue, paranoia and machinations of dealing with his equally tyrannical inner circle and running the behometh that was the Soviet Union.

A man of extreme contradictions he was a charming yet ruthless thug on the outside who even had his own doctor arrested and tortured for merely saying he should rest but at times he could be extremely caring, even to strangers. Highly intelligent, he devoured the great works of literature and military strategy. His most prized possession was his huge library of books. History certainly hasn’t seen him as a caring intellectual, he ruled by fear and had carefully cultivated a cult of personality.

In 1933 he instigated the great purge whereby anyone seen as having anti soviet views were either shot or sent to the camps. By the time Stalin died in 1953 at least 15 million people were thought to have been killed.

Regarding foreign policy, he had no respect for the sovereignty of other countries and in 1940 signed a non aggression pact with Hitler which allowed them both to carve up Poland. The Katylin massacre of 22000 Polish military officers was to deprive a potential future Polish military of a large portion of its talent as not to be troublesome in the future. Surprisingly, Stalin was prepared to side with Hitler against the Allied powers, ( which seemed strange considering their idealogical differences were at the extremes of the spectrum )and was surprised and angry when Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union.
A great read and possibly the seminal book on Stalin’s years in power

Billed as the best book on the subject, world renowned Paleontologist Steve Brusatte has crafted an excellent narrative charting the rise and fall of these magnificent creatures, from the early much smaller Proto Dinosaurs at the beginning of the Triassic period, fighting for survival alongside the early reptiles and mammals to their growth in size and ultimate rise to world domination in the later Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. They would dominate the planet for 240 million years.

An immensely enjoyable and informative read and as Brusatte points out, (citing overwhelming evidence) dinosaurs are still living amongst us. The killer asteroid that smashed in to the earth 65 million years ago did not wipe out all the Dinosaurs. A few theropod species such as velociraptors survived and over millions of years of evolution became birds. Yes, birds are true, genuine dinosaurs

The Children of the Green Planet

There is a Scene in Spielberg’s ET where our beloved Alien is walking down the street on his way to a Halloween party. He has a white sheet over him and sees the world through the two holes cut out in the sheet. He  sees a young child dressed up as Yoda. Immediately ET points to him and says the word ‘Home’. This begs  the question, does ET recognise Yoda because as a species, they inhabit the same  universe?

In Star Wars Episode 1, the Galactic Senate plays an important role. Various creatures are  represented with each species sitting in their individual pods within the debating chamber. And lo and behold, If you look closely you can see a specific pod, containing three creatures. (As seen in the picture) They are of the same species as ET. According to Wookipaedia, the online Star Wars reference tool, the species is known as ‘The Children of the Green Planet’.

Perhaps that is why ET and his cohorts have such fascination with earths Flora and Ferna at the beginning of the film ET. The ‘Green’ planet is no doubt richly populated with dense vegetation. As is the Planet ‘Dagobah,’ which any Star Wars geek knows is the planet that Yoda went in to Exile on. Are they one and the same?  You never know….