Saturday
It is funny how films that you put down on the "must get around to seeing it sometime" list never get seen. Well, I have wanted to watch that 1970 epic, Waterloo, for a while and watched it during a quiet Saturday afternoon. Several things struck me about it, not least the fact that the cast was drawn from the Soviet Union (the Red Army?). I think I remember reading somewhere that the Soviet forces were used as cast extras in quite a lot of films, including a Russian film version of War and Peace. Rod Steiger's portrayal of Bonaparte has not, in my view, ever been bettered. What a great actor Steiger was. Mad eyes.
I wonder if anyone who drives past the rolling wheatfields of Belgium in which the battle was fought ever wonder about the sheer carnage that was caused on that damp June day in 1815, or reflect that, nearly 200 years later, Bonaparte's dream of a pan-European empire has in some ways come to pass, albeit without the nifty French cavalry uniforms.
Andrew Roberts' fine account of both Napoleon and his nemesis, Wellington, is certainly worth a read.
including a Russian film version of War and Peace.Made by the same director as Waterloo.
Posted by Alisa at October 18, 2008 06:40 PM
Just this morning I mailed my DVD of this fine, fine film to a soldier in Iraq.
http://www.booksforsoldiers.com(Link)
Last week i sent Barry Lyndon.
The week before that, Doctor Zhivago. Steiger again.
Posted by Thomas at October 18, 2008 08:16 PM
Now the plan is for world (rather than European) government. Of course such ideas are centuries old - and Euro "blockism" was allways meant as a stage to it...... but I never thought to see it this close.
International conferences to control banking and money and (naturally enough) to ban tax havens. And even if President Bush does not go along with it "President Obama" will (indeed he will lead it). The end to American vetos and "American exceptionalism".
Total defeat and yet no glory or courage in the enemy - nothing to be admired in a collection of media creatures and college lecturers. Even the mega rich among them have built nothing and produce nothing.
Perhaps it would it have been better if N.B. has won - and least there was colour (even if most of it was blood). And he made his family Kings and Queens and produced coins to be proud of.
An enemy certainly - but one whom one could respect.
I still can not believe we have been defeated (indeed destroyed) by nonentities - what does this say about us that we have been so destroyed?
We must be less than nothing.
Posted by Paul Marks at October 18, 2008 10:13 PM
I think it was actually the (then) Yugoslav army that supplied the soldiers.
And a contemporary article about the making of the film in the (then) Daily Telegraph Magazine contained one of the most beautiful lines I've ever read, about the filming of some action scene: "Wave after wave of troops slid into the valley like a tilted smorgasbord."
Perfect.
Posted by Miv Tucker at October 18, 2008 11:59 PM
I think it was actually the (then) Yugoslav army that supplied the soldiers.Not according to IMDB.
Posted by Alisa at October 19, 2008 01:15 AM
I stand corrected: it was the BBC's version of War and Peace that featured the Yugoslavs.
But I won't be gainsaid on that piece of writing: I still think it's beautiful.
Posted by Miv Tucker at October 19, 2008 01:40 AM
"We must be less than nothing."
Come on, Paul. Chin up. I have been reading Anthony Beevor's "Stalingrad". (Look, it was a very long flight, and the bookstore at the airport was, well, typical).
Interesting observation from Mr. Beevor -- only 10 years between Adolf's rise to power and when he got his at Stalingrad.
People keep saying that the world moves faster today. Shouldn't be too long until Broon, Barrack & the rest of the political class meet their own version of Waterloo. Just make sure that you are ready to jump in & finish off the wounded when the opportunity arises. (Or to tend to their broken egos, if that is your preference).
Posted by Alice at October 19, 2008 01:41 AM
A great way to spend a sat afternoon...I've a friend who has just taken up a six month contract just by waterloo...he is getting a visit before xmas!
Posted by thud at October 19, 2008 01:48 AM
Alice: it is cyclical. The bad guys win and rule for a few years (or a few centuries, depending on how you look at it), then it's the good guys' turn, and back again. Problem is, the people who fell at Waterloo and Stalingrad, and elsewhere, cannot enjoy the benefit of this long term perspective. And yes, we are all dead in the long run:-|
Posted by Alisa at October 19, 2008 10:00 AM
alisa wrote: Alice: it is cyclical. The bad guys win and rule for a few years then it's the good guys' turn, and back again.
Nah, there are no cycles or inevitability in history. We can repeat mistakes or we can learn from them. Each generation can win the fight for individual freedom or lose it. Talk of cycles is fatalistic, futile and false. Worse, it obscures the truth which is that history is forged by individuals, ideas and actions.
Posted by philmil at October 20, 2008 03:01 PM
history is forged by individuals, ideas and actions.Which in turn are forged by human nature, which doesn't change. Still, Philmil, I sure hope you are right. I also hope that we won't have to go through another Waterloo and Stalingrad every generation in order to win. If we are to learn a lesson from history, it is that we better find ways to avoid that next time around.
Posted by Alisa at October 20, 2008 03:37 PM
Rod Steiger was great in so many films, but as a whole I found the film of Waterloo sloppy. On the other hand I saw it years ago and maybe time might improve my appreciation, but as I have no desire to sit through it again I shall pass.
Posted by watcher in the dark at October 21, 2008 04:22 PM
The only advantage we have is economic law.
God (if He exists) has so created the universe that economic collectivism does not work - or the universe (and basic reason) just happen to be that way (depending on one's theological point of view).
However, as Alisa and others have pointed out, this is cold comfort.
For after the collapse of collectivist world government (which will include China - as there is no ideological opposition to this in the Chinese ruling party, or in the ruling party in India) there may be no swift return to civil society.
There may be a new Dark Age (and, contrary to revisionist historians, the old Dark Age was very real).
And, no, science and technology will not save us from this.
Only the ideas in people's heads can do so - and their will to put them into practice.
If enough people (and enough strong and ARMED people) do not understand and believe in the basic principles of freedom then the present civilization is doomed. Regardless of the "tech level".
Posted by Paul Marks at October 22, 2008 04:20 PM
