Ridley Scott's Napoleon (Nov 2023)

[Sir Slash]

I can't wait to hear the products of the American Public Education system ask, "Why didn't they just NUKE him man"? 

[JasonPratt]

Pft. Do you WANT Napoleon to be able to breathe out a radioactive firestorm? Because that's how you mutate Napoleon enough to .....

...

.....okay, I would admittedly consider paying money to see that. Maybe set in the context of the seven last years of tribulation with Nappy being the ultimate Antichrist.

[Sir Slash]

  Would that make Wellington or Nelson Jesus? 

[Uberhaus]

You forgot Blücher, making the holy trinity.

[Sir Slash]

  

[SirAndrewD]

New trailer..

[Gusington]

I am very excited to see it. Joaquin Phoenix looks to be an awesome Napoleon.

[Destraex]

I am betting they make Napoleon look like a madman... rather than a genius.
On grogs picking up on historical floors Ridley Scott is quoted as saying in reply "were you there?"

[ArizonaTank]

Initial reviews are mixed. Some think it is a great achievement, others think it technically very good, but without soul. 

The truth is probably in the middle.

I'll see it next week.

[Destraex]

That figures. Most modern movies are soul less because they must pander to so many agendas and lobby groups.

[W8taminute]

The wife and I will probably see this over the weekend.  I managed to convince her that it will be good because she loves Joachim Phoenix.  Hopefully it isn't soulless.

[Redwolf]

I have tickets for Wednesday. Should be great.

[ArizonaTank]

I have tickets for Wednesday. Should be great.

The wife and I are going as well. 

But the clip of the 'Battle of Austerlitz' that was released a few days ago, has me cringing just a bit.

Particularly the emphasis on the 'frozen pond.' In fact there were so many other "real" moments of heroism and nail-biting tension in the battle that could have been dramatized.

Napoleon, always with an eye for dramatization, claimed 20,000 Russians were lost in the frozen pond. This is the story the movie seems to follow.

The reality was far less dramatic. When the ponds were drained after the battle, there were only three Russian bodies found.

Here is an excerpt from Robert Goetz' excellent history: "1805 Austerlitz: Napoleon and the Destruction of the Third Coalition".

"With the causeway jammed with fleeing men and abandoned vehicles, many of those remaining behind attempted to cross the ice of the Satchan Pond, producing the scene immortalized by Napoleon's 30th Bulletin: ". . . one saw a horrible spectacle, such as one had seen at Aboukir: 20,000 men throwing themselves in the water and drowning in the lakes!" While the ice did break beneath them due to a combination of artillery fire and the weight of their numbers and a small number did drown, still others managed to cross to the safety of the other side or were pulled from the pond, which was only 1.5 meters or so deep. Segur claims personally to have helped to pull a Cossack from the icy water. Comeau, a French staff officer who witnessed the action, later scoffed at the exaggeration of the bulletin, and asserted that the pond actually preserved the 1st Column from destruction rather than claiming a large number of lives:

The bulletin says that this pond absorbed thousands of them [Russian soldiers]. I was near enough to see what occurred there. The Russian army skirted the pond and put it between them and the cavalry that would have harassed them. While some parties might have got their feet wet, they did not drown. The few corpses of men and horses that I saw there had been killed by gunfire; they were on the bank, and even nearer. I would say in fact that it was not 2,000 men who perished, but fewer than 200 while without this obstacle [the pond] the column would have been crushed.*

When the ponds were drained after the battle, only three human corpses were found, along with thirty cannon and the corpses of about 130 horses, fully corroborating Comeau's eyewitness account.† Seeing the ice breaking on the pond, most of the remaining allied troops west of the pond escaped to the south toward Mönitz, some continuing south from that village, others attempting to cross the ice of Mönitz Pond, which soon also broke up. Ironically, the troops which had maintained order and were left behind, including the Austrian cavalry forming the rearguard, still managed to cross between the ponds before the French closed in on their rear."

Goetz, Robert. 1805 Austerlitz: Napoleon and the Destruction of the Third Coalition (pp. 354-355). Pen & Sword Books. Kindle Edition.

I know this complaint is nit picky.... but hey... I am a "Grognard" after all.

[Windigo]

In addition Spielberg and Kubrick and Tarantino, Scott is one of my favorite directors.

I snickered slightly when I thought of how Michael Bay would have done it....

[Uberhaus]

"Napoleon, always with an eye for dramatization, claimed 20,000 Russians were lost in the frozen pond. This is the story the movie seems to follow."

Well, he couldn't keep it under his hat, it's been sold for US$2.1M  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67465802