Forty centuries from the top of these pyramids, overlooking us. — Napoleon Bonaparte
At the end of October, I accidentally learned that the new film "Napoleon" directed by Ridley Scott was about to be released, and it would be released almost simultaneously in China. I still remember that excitement vividly, because the director and the subject matter of the film are so much to my appetite!So, looking forward to the stars and the moon, and looking forward to the morning of December 1, I did not hesitate to skip class (less important) and go to the cinema. Full of reverence for history and cinema, he rode 3 kilometers in the cold winter of the north to catch the first show of "Napoleon" in the best cinema nearby.
Two and a half hours passed, and my inner activities when I walked out of the theater were more complicated. But before writing down personal feelings, it's better to sort out the plot first.
The French Revolution brought the whole of France into a state of "rage", which culminated in the guillotine of Louis XVI and Queen Antoinette after a series of major events. This is where the film opens, with the main character, Napoleon, appearing in the crowd as a "Corsican hillbilly". France, having killed its monarch, endured the hostility of all the feudal powers in Europe. The old enemy, the British, did not miss this golden opportunity, and under the advice of the royalists, sent troops to capture Toulon, an important port city in the south of France.
The ruling governor was in real trouble, and it seemed that the whole of France and the nascent revolutionary cause would soon be destroyed. The times make heroes, and Napoleon, a young artillery captain, was introduced by his younger brother to shoulder the heavy responsibility of recovering Toulon. Napoleon saw at a glance the crux of the matter: the key to recovering Toulon was to capture the large fortress next to the port, so that the British fleet could be bombarded in order to achieve victory. He reconnoitred and planned while reorganizing the army, and then took advantage of the night to launch a decisive offensive. After this battle, Napoleon was unusually promoted to brigadier general and became a hero of France.
Returning to Paris amid flowers and applause, Napoleon was not attracted by the glitz and glamour of high society, because he met the most important person in his life, his wife Josephine, who influenced him all his life. The "sadomasochism" of two people's "extreme pulling" runs through the whole film and becomes the theme of this movie.
While in Paris, Napoleon accepted the Inspector's request from Barras to successfully suppress the armed rebellion of the royalist forces in the streets of Paris with cannons, and became the commander of the Paris garrison. As for Josephine, the two knew and fell in love, and were married before Napoleon was sent to Egypt.
In Egypt, Napoleon was overwhelmed, and the Mamluk soldiers were not his opponents at all. In addition to frantically expressing his love and longing for Josephine through countless letters, Napoleon also participated in the archaeological work of ancient Egypt.
However, both France, for whom Napoleon fought, and his wife, Josephine, "betrayed" him. The internal political situation in France is unstable, and the news of Josephine's derailment is widely circulated. He returned to Paris in a rage, determined to make a change. Napoleon and Josephine struggled several times, and finally realized that they could not do without each other. Politically, he was supported by his cronies and several **, launched a coup d'état d'état, and was honored as the "first consul" of the republic. Although Napoleon was obstructed and even beaten by the members of the House of Five Hundred during the coup d'état, the moment the soldiers rushed into the venue, everything was already doomed.
Napoleon, as the "First Consul", continued his remarkable military victories. In the end, there is no glory to match his feats. In 1804, Napoleon himself was crowned "Emperor" with the crown, and the pinnacle of his life was approaching. The scene of the "Battle of Austerlitz" was extremely grand, and Napoleon used his military talents to make the Russian-Prussian army suffer a major blow on the ice lake, and truly achieved "world-shattering"!Then, Napoleon defeated the "Fourth Coalition against France" and established France's supremacy on the European continent. The Austrian emperor, the Prussian king, and the tsar could not be in Napoleon's eyes.
The battlefield is proud, but the love field is a little frustrated. The relationship between Napoleon and Josephine has gone through several twists and turns, and it is rare to stabilize, and "Josephine's delay in having children" has become a big problem in front of everyone - the emperor cannot be without an heir. Both Napoleon and Josephine worked hard – even the hall where breakfast was eaten was used as the venue for the "Creation of Man" movement. But God didn't fulfill people's wishes, and the children belonging to the two of them just didn't appear. Finally, under the pressure of his mother-in-law, who did not want to see his daughter-in-law, and many **, Napoleon chose to divorce Josephine and marry the Austrian princess. Soon after the marriage, "Little Napoleon" was born, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. With joy, Napoleon was about to continue his grand career.
Now, only ** on the European continent is not controlled by him, and Napoleon understands that only by trampling ** under his feet can he break the British mind and achieve the overall goal of defeating Britain. In 1812, Napoleon led an expedition of 570,000 troops to Russia.
The long distance of the road, coupled with the Russian tactics of "clearing the wilderness with strong walls" and "fighting the enemy when we are tired", the French army could not "decide the outcome of a battle". But Napoleon is Napoleon, and he led his troops forward and rushed straight to Moscow. In September 1812, Napoleon led the French army to a tactical victory at the extremely difficult Battle of Borodino, but suffered heavy losses. In mid-September, Napoleon entered Moscow. Napoleon expected Alexander I to compromise, but he was greeted by a fire of Moscow. Napoleon had to withdraw from Moscow, and again after heavy losses**. The film omits the follow-up story and skips directly to the scene of Napoleon's abdication.
After his exile on the island of Elba, Napoleon was not reconciled. After stumbling upon a newspaper article about Josephine's meeting with the Russian Emperor, he became furious and decided to return to France to regain power. Napoleon won the support of the army almost without much effort, and the "Hundred Days" was established. The film comes to a climax, and it is also the director's most laborious part - the Battle of Waterloo. The Duke of Wellington, the commander of the British army, confronted Napoleon head-on, and the Prussian commander Blucher rushed to support the British. This time, Napoleon was fatally defeated—first the heavy rain delayed the French offensive for a long time, then the soldiers' attack was ineffective, then Napoleon's own horse charge was still thwarted, and finally Blucher's Prussian army rushed into the battlefield from the flank, and everything was settled.
Napoleon was again exiled, and his destination was St. Helena, far off the Atlantic. Here, Napoleon reminisced about his past, his time with Josephine, and his health weakened. At the end of the film, Napoleon faces the sea with his back to the camera, slowly falls from his chair, and dies like Mike, the second-generation godfather in "The Godfather 3".
After the plot is sorted out, let's talk about my thoughts.
Ridley Scott's work this time is very disappointing: "Napoleon" is confusing as a story, full of errors and omissions as a history, boring as a movie, and ridiculous as an ideological propaganda. It's hard to imagine that this is a masterpiece by Director Lei who has filmed good films such as "Alien", "Heavenly Dynasty" and "Black Hawk Down".
Confusing story:
The main line of "Napoleon" is not the exploits of Napoleon's life, but the emotional entanglement between him and his lover Josephine. Indeed, it is impossible to present the complete life of such a great person in a few hours, and the director must make trade-offs, and even make some relatively large adjustments and adaptations. In addition, it is understandable that Lei Dao wanted to portray Napoleon from another, uncommon perspective. However, the plot in "Napoleon" feels "messy" - the logical relationships and cohesiveness in many places are confusing, and the relationship between Napoleon and Josephine is not as well-known as his results, which makes the whole story "chaotic and chaotic".
One second he was still a "nobody" in the crowd, and the next second he appeared in the office of the governor to accept the appointment;One second he was still enjoying a warm family life, and the next second he began to discuss the "Foggy Moon Coup";One second he was spending the night with Josephine, and the next he was on a battlefield filled with gunpowderOne second he just became the "First Consul", and the next second he was crowned "Emperor"·· Around the protagonist Napoleon, there are many abrupt twists.
For history buffs and fans who are familiar with Napoleon (I only know a thing or two), such a story arrangement still needs to be digested, and the movie-watching experience of the majority of ordinary audiences is of course even more unfriendly.
A history full of mistakes:
As an "Anglo-American" film, audiences around the world anticipated that France might be "hacked badly". However, when I walked into the cinema, I was still taken aback - it's hard not to notice the big and small mistakes in the whole movie.
When Queen Antoinette was guillotined, Napoleon was thousands of miles away, and it was impossible for him to be in the crowd**. Barras did not know Napoleon at first, and it was impossible for him to talk to him and appoint him directly as the commander of the Toulon region, as in the film.
In the Battle of Toulon, Napoleon did not lead a "sneak attack" to capture the fortress. Although there was a "night battle", the specific situation is very different from the scene shown in the movie. Napoleon's military prowess and superb artillery tactics were first displayed in Toulon, and the film does not show these elements, but portrays him as a "nervous" "reckless man" who does not command but charges with the soldiers.
In Egypt, Napoleon could indeed see the pyramids, but the battle against the Mamluk soldiers was still far away. The so-called "bombardment of the pyramids" is really ridiculous, and such a measure is meaningless. The main reason for leaving Egypt was not Josephine's infidelity (Napoleon's own affairs were not without a small number of affairs), but the difficulties of the Egyptian war situation and the turmoil in France were the key.
The battle of Austerlitz looks lively, but it does not stand up to scrutiny. The film completely ignores Napoleon's series of ingenious strategies and operations, and only focuses on the "ice lake". The "glacial lake" does exist, but its role is not as exaggerated as in the movie - as if the entire Russian-Austrian army had been drowned by Napoleon's design. At the heart of the battle was the "high ground", and Napoleon took the initiative to cede this "battleground" to confuse the enemy, and then led the French army to fight a beautiful offensive, and finally won a great victory—the battle of Austerlitz can be said to be the most dazzling of all Napoleon's brilliant exploits.
Other mistakes aside, Waterloo's "Endgame" has the most to complain about. The impact of the campaign was so powerful that people today still regard "Waterloo" as a synonym for "the indomitable winner who suffers the defeat".
The historical data and research about this battle are extremely sufficient, and there are also very professional and detailed comments on the Internet, so I will not "get an axe" here. Just two points: Napoleon definitely did not charge on horseback, but sat in the big tent of the army the whole time;The Duke of Wellington was definitely not an old-fashioned, cold-blooded animal.
If Lei Dao's "Napoleon" is history, then it is undoubtedly full of mistakes.
Tasteless movie:
The whole film of "Napoleon" is completely a "running account", you can't see the rich dimensions and transformations of the characters, and even many important characters are like background boards on the stage, dazzling but dispensable. The most fatal problem is still with the protagonists - Napoleon and Josephine are not only "unsettling" but also "incomprehensible".
The whole film basically unfolds in chronological order, and there are no bells and whistles. In historical and biographical films, this treatment is so common that it is understandable. But "Napoleon" feels like a boring "running account". To tell the truth, except for the opening scene where the queen is guillotined and her head is cut off, and Napoleon "pulls cannons on the street to bombard people" during the royalist rebellion and the shouts of killing on the battlefield, the process of watching the movie is very dull. At least the audience who watched the same movie as me couldn't hide the tiredness on their faces at the end of the movie.
First of all, the tone of the film is darker, as if a layer of filter has been added. I guess the director wanted to use color tones to reflect the seriousness and solemnity of history, but the effect was not good.
Secondly, the content of the film is "inappropriate", and too much effort is spent on the love history of Napoleon and Josephine, which is not what the audience expects. After all, when people go into the theater, they want to see the great heroes who ride on horseback to fight in the north and south, and the emperor of the god of war who is a young man.
Not to mention how much space Napoleon's "martial arts" should occupy, at least it must show the bearing of "Napoleon Crossing the Alps" and "Napoleon's Coronation", which are often used as decorative paintings in the Northeast Bathhouse. There is no strategy, no vertical and horizontal planning, Director Lei's film shows too little about Napoleon's deeds, and it is completely "incorrect", which may be called "Napoleon's Romance", "Napoleon's Secret History", "Napoleon and Josephine" is appropriate.
Last but not least, the two protagonists of the film, Napoleon and Josephine, are surprisingly characterized. Frankly speaking, Napoleon in this movie is simply a "freak": he is inferior and arrogant, full of children's love and yellow waste, a bit of "raking ears" and a bit of "mother-loving clean". The role of Josephine is not far behind: in addition to exuding the charm of "courtesan" in the men's pile, it is to stage the "Qiong Yao drama" with Napoleon, which always reveals "three points of coldness, three points of ridicule, and four parts of carelessness".
The failure of character creation directly leads to too much strange logic in the process of advancing the plot, giving people the feeling that Napoleon led France to conquer the European continent was "angry and angry", and everything was for Josephine.
Funny and ridiculous ideological propaganda:
I don't want to be like many bloggers on the Internet who denounce "Napoleon" as "historical nihilism" and a "model play" for American Hollywood to dwarf the culture of other countries. Because, the creators of this movie are not smart enough to do such a bad thing. On the contrary, they are so stupid that they "dig their ancestral graves" with their own cultural products.
In the interview with the film announcement, the director openly expressed his "contempt" for Napoleon, which roughly means: he is a careerist and butcher who brought disaster. The resulting film does reflect this view. The directors and leading actors set "criticism" as the general tone, and used it as the ideological core of the whole film.
Who created Napoleon?It was Europe at the turn of the century, France at the time of the Revolution. His rises, achievements, mistakes, and declines are all treasures that human history has left to future generations – with experience and lessons. It cannot be denied that there was a very bloody side to the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars brought tragic **, but no matter how ugly or indiscriminately the French Revolution and Napoleon were evaluated as "useless", it is obviously not in line with the truth of history.
The director's "Spring and Autumn Brushwork" adds a layer of unreality to what is already unreal - the ** numbers listed at the end of the film deliberately throw all the "pots" to Napoleon alone. How?Britain, Prussia, Austria, Russia, and other countries have repeatedly taken the initiative to form an "anti-French alliance" to attack France, and Napoleon must bear the "guilt" for attacking France
Remind the director that the French Revolution is a great example of the world's overthrow of the feudal system and the pursuit of "freedom and democracy" and "natural human rights", and the "Civil Code" promulgated by Napoleon is a symbol of the spirit of the rule of law. All of them are the foundation of the West's self-proclaimed "civilization" and "advancedness."
Play and play, criticize this, criticize that, don't really dig up your own "ancestral grave".
Alas, it's so emotional!The episode in the TV series "Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty" sings well - "Who remembers whom after thousands of years". is as great as Napoleon, and it is inevitable that he will gradually fade away in the long river of history, so that he has become a "little girl who can be dressed up".