I used to want to be an archaeologist, purely in order to go and hunt for the lost plays of Aeschylus.... wouldn't it be something to be reading some scrap of papyrus and suddenly realise it was the opening of The Myrmidons?
Thank you so, so much. The movie's coming to India next week, so I'm not sure I should have read something like this just when I managed to repress my misgivings - but it's worth remembering, it is it is it is.
Very interesting article, thank you for posting it. Mendelsohn articulates some of my misgivings, not so much with the Homeric 'inspiration', or lack of it, of the script, but Peterson's shortcomings as a director of epic. Although the one scene of the computer generated ships he found impressive was one that jarred most with me. The pull-back appeared to make them go backwards, and the precise equidistant spacing would be virtualy impossible to sustain given the vagaries of wind and man-power they were steered by. Nit-picking I know, but it gave me an early clue that Hollywood's 'real' spectacle would be a 'never mind the quality feel the width' job.
Checking the list of Petersen's Hollywood films, they're all pretty crummy (I enjoyed In the Line of Fire). I haven't seen Das Boot, although various people have told me it's very good. And even the close-up moments in Troy were very flat. The scene between Priam and Achilles came closest to having emotional impact, but I suspect that might have more to do with Homer...
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Date: 2004-06-19 07:09 pm (UTC)Although the one scene of the computer generated ships he found impressive was one that jarred most with me. The pull-back appeared to make them go backwards, and the precise equidistant spacing would be virtualy impossible to sustain given the vagaries of wind and man-power they were steered by. Nit-picking I know, but it gave me an early clue that Hollywood's 'real' spectacle would be a 'never mind the quality feel the width' job.
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Date: 2004-06-20 05:57 am (UTC)