Saturday 16 October 2010

Waterloo
(1970)

80%

Meeting His Waterloo

Able Was I, Ere I Saw Elba

Expensive war movie that spends more time at the front than in explaining the complexities of Napoleonic Wars politics. Instead, it opts for romantic humanist nods at an implausible pacifism that is rooted more in the times in which the film was made - 1970 - than in 1815.

Moreover, Rod STEIGER plays Napoleon as a proto-Hitler without any real historical justification - just a dramatic one. The lack of genuine political insight presented here is more than made-up-for in the deft characterization from a fine array of world-class performers.

Director Sergei BONDARCHUK’s earlier version of War & Peace is far superior to this work, yet Waterloo is not merely a collection of edited together out-takes from that earlier movie; being entertaining in its own right - with frequent touches of greatness.

Copyright © 2010 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.
Posted by Frank TALKER™ at 15:32
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Science:



No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.



Jacob Bronowski… (1908 - 74), British scientist, author. Encounter (London, July 1971).


Sleep of Reason:



The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.



Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes… (1746-1828), Spanish painter. Caption to Caprichos, number 43, a series of eighty etchings completed in 1798, satirical and grotesque in form.


Humans & Aliens:



I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.



Terence… (circa 190-159 BC), Roman dramatist. Chremes, in The Self-Tormentor [Heauton Timorumenos], act 1, scene 1.


Führerprinzip:



One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.



Albert Camus… (1913-60), French-Algerian writer & philosopher. The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt: New York: Vintage Books, (1984; page 182.)