Richard Mehl

A $250M portrayal of the most interesting man in the history of the world who single handedly ended monarchy on continental Europe. A history refashioned for an American public on the precipice of losing their 250 year old democracy. Shouldn’t a Napoleonic movie of a funding magnitude at least do some justice to explain the remarkable means and methods of such a figure? Coming from a destitute background how did he rise to be Emperor? Why was he compelled to conquer all of Europe? What kind of man is repeatedly victorious on every battlefield, often with numerical disadvantage? No attempts were made to depict how on any of these were accomplished for our movie going generation. NB ended up with 57 victories against 2 losses (Acre, Waterloo) while France was in complete debt and bureaucratic turmoil. Of course no effort of this was expected to be addressed by the 2023 production. Surely some artful and efficient combination of reflecting some perspective, bravery, genius, leadership, and resourcefulness required for a man of humble beginnings to accomplish the above, unanswered for, achievements in a mere 15 years should have been at least reflected for an accumulated 10 minutes of any biographical 2:35 movie? Not this one. To add insult to the glaring omissions, Scott Free Productions took painstaking measures to cast a heroine addled, mumbling cuckhold whose constant frustration at bed play with Josephine contributed to his blunder at Waterloo against a supremely confident and organized British land army. To sum up Scott’s interpretation of Napoleon’s life - Napoleon’s failure as a bedfellow and a leader were a result of his being worried about his little impotence and monstrous demented ambition to compensate. The end script pronouncing his responsibility for the deaths of 3,000,000 Europeans in a span of 15 years was the final message before the credits rolled. This guy must have been like Hitler’s grandfather. But, somehow this frustrated, morphine addict of very few mumbled words in the film was able look cool enough in that hat to be elected as Emperor of the French by 99% of the total vote (tally % is historic reality, omitted by Scott Free Production). This movie is a massively expensive attempt to dishonor and demoralize all the people who participated in what largely became the social democratic Continental Europe of today, and to those who fought for and against Napoleon’s le gran armie. People who like this movie say it is visually beautiful and accurately portrays the brutality of war are disillusioned and in desperate need to recalibrate the weighting of their metrics for historical ‘art’. This is expected in today’s male consumer market whose joy depends on the outcomes of their wagers in football fantasies and general fetishes for vanity, guns, paranoia, and other various petty tiddlywinks. My excitement to see the film grew from my anticipation in witnessing the film’s deliberate attempt to distort historical reality. The film’s take away message met but also fell below my already low expectations for historical reflective quality (with Joaquin’s effort, sanctioned by the massive production). The quality of critical feedback from what I have gathered, exceeds my expectations. It appears my view is matched by many others who have respect for what this man accomplished, whether the particular democratic outcome was intended or not. At the very least he was a true leader who catalyzed an indispensable form of Europe’s civil, political, and societal destiny.