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Originally Posted by Pangloss62
But again, there is no reason to expect the Gibson's to be true to facts because that's not what they care about. Furthermore, their grasp of just what "history" is as a discipline is a bit shaky:
"There's always this conceit among historians, particularly
European historians, that history only began when they
arrived - which of course is not the case," he said.
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Sorry, but in my opinion, this is just a tad overly pejorative. Mel Gibson is an artist, working in a field of art. As with all artists, representation is a matter of opinion, interpretation and choice of what to present in the work of art.
There is not one single historical movie made that is 100% true or accurate, so it feels a little unfair to me to single Gibson out for this particular critique.
Of course the Europeans believe it all started with them. The Arabs all believe it started with them, too. All dominant cultures with long histories will naturally see the world as it relates to them and them alone. This is a sociological fact. Perhaps a necessary fact. It may be what helps a culture to become and remain dominant. It could be called self-confidence, but is usually referred to as arrogance.
I personally don't see why movies like these create such polarization based on "true history" and "fact." There have been so many wonderful movies made based on history with all sorts of composites to represent far more than could ever be presented if we kept it strictly to the facts.
The new CIA movie, "The Good Shepherd," was recently reviewed by an ex-CIA agent and he said pretty much the same thing. That movie follows the spirit of the CIA, if the letter and verse of how it was done. Some things were tweaked for art, some were composites, but by and large it presents the idea it set out to present. I think "Apolcalypto" did the same thing and doesn't deserve the microscope critique it seems to be attracting.
BTW, Tonchi, I like the way you framed and explained the movie the best of anything I've read or seen. When you see the movie, you won't be disappointed!