French Revolution documentary
Aug. 3rd, 2006 11:53 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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revolution_frHoly hell, I have finally seen the History Channel French Rev. documentary again. The last time I saw it was the day it came out, when I hardly even knew there had been a French Revolution. I was curious to see how my perception of it had changed from then to now.
First, a note on getting it: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH. You see, the first time, using Amazon, the people randomly said that something was wrong with my mom's credit card. This was most unusual, since it seemed to work just fine for the other four or so people I had ordered things from around that time. So we scrapped that. Then, mom found an Ebay seller offering it very cheap. We went for that. Uh-oh! Turns out that was a scam. There was no DVD! Ahaha, fooled you! Mom told me that clearly God did not want me to have this DVD. Never one to listen to God, I went back to Amazon and found a different seller. Everything went through fine, except for some small delays. Finally. So, yes, in conclusion: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH.
How was it, IMO? Er...quite mediocre. But the guy playing Robespierre was cute, so no worries. A+++, would drool over again.
Okay, some more specific comments:
-Not a one mention of Camille. Not a one. If not for the Super Powers of Cute Robespierre Guy, I might well be suing for mental anguish at this very moment. Especially for those moments when I was so expecting it. ("Bastille, Bastille...THEYWILLMENTIONHIMANYMINUTEN - damnit." "Execution of the Dantonists! Surely - damnit.")
-It seems to me that they focused a little too much on what preceded the Revolution, and not...y'know, the actual events of it. I remember looking down at the clock at one point, thinking, "Woah. Almost an hour has passed and we're only just up to 1789." But then boom, boom, boom and suddenly it's 1793. Er.
-Danton, also, was woefully underepresented. Actually, pretty much everyone except Maxime, the king and queen, and (kind of) Marat were. (I don't think any members of the Committee of Public Safety except Maxime were even NAMED) This is explained a little more, in the special features, where they say they wanted to 'tell it from the perspective of Maximilien Robespierre.' But, well, that sort of makes me wonder...why didn't they just do a biography of Robespierre? I mean, I personally find his early life and politics interesting as hell, but these people apparently have no qualms with giving whole chunks of time the merest of passing nods, so it wouldn't have been an issue for them to just skip over all that and go straight to the Revolution.
-Speaking of the special feature, is it just me, or does it seem to imply that Maxime called the Estates General at one point? O.o;
-Lovely recreations.
-However, would it have killed them to shoot a few more? You can practically make a drinking game out of the amount of times we see that shot of Maxime addressing the room. And the king and queen walking down some stairs, too. I kind of wished they'd have one of them trip once, just for variety.
-They got some good speakers in, so yay.
-I would just like to comment again of the adorableness of Cute Robespierre Guy. The special feature did not focus nearly enough on him.
-The documentary, however, was rather overloaded in that respect. I've been trying to convince people for months that Maxime's role in certain things wasn't quite what it is made out to be by some people, and this is exactly what I don't need them seeing. They trumpet on so much about him here that you might well think it isn't much of a stretch to believe he controlled the temperature. :P
-In the end, though, it's a documentary for people who don't really know much about the French Revolution, and in that respect it does its job well. I remember I absolutely loved it when I first watched it, and it led to my interest in the French Revolution. I didn't begin to learn about things in detail until a few months ago, but still, I don't believe I'd have even been interested if I hadn't seen this documentary.
Final Grade: C
*Change to B+ if the only thing you know about the French Revolution is the fact that it was indeed a revolution which took place in a country called France.
EDIT: Using this wonderful site, I have come up with the following.
...XD;
First, a note on getting it: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH. You see, the first time, using Amazon, the people randomly said that something was wrong with my mom's credit card. This was most unusual, since it seemed to work just fine for the other four or so people I had ordered things from around that time. So we scrapped that. Then, mom found an Ebay seller offering it very cheap. We went for that. Uh-oh! Turns out that was a scam. There was no DVD! Ahaha, fooled you! Mom told me that clearly God did not want me to have this DVD. Never one to listen to God, I went back to Amazon and found a different seller. Everything went through fine, except for some small delays. Finally. So, yes, in conclusion: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH.
How was it, IMO? Er...quite mediocre. But the guy playing Robespierre was cute, so no worries. A+++, would drool over again.
Okay, some more specific comments:
-Not a one mention of Camille. Not a one. If not for the Super Powers of Cute Robespierre Guy, I might well be suing for mental anguish at this very moment. Especially for those moments when I was so expecting it. ("Bastille, Bastille...THEYWILLMENTIONHIMANYMINUTEN - damnit." "Execution of the Dantonists! Surely - damnit.")
-It seems to me that they focused a little too much on what preceded the Revolution, and not...y'know, the actual events of it. I remember looking down at the clock at one point, thinking, "Woah. Almost an hour has passed and we're only just up to 1789." But then boom, boom, boom and suddenly it's 1793. Er.
-Danton, also, was woefully underepresented. Actually, pretty much everyone except Maxime, the king and queen, and (kind of) Marat were. (I don't think any members of the Committee of Public Safety except Maxime were even NAMED) This is explained a little more, in the special feature
-Speaking of the special feature, is it just me, or does it seem to imply that Maxime called the Estates General at one point? O.o;
-Lovely recreations.
-However, would it have killed them to shoot a few more? You can practically make a drinking game out of the amount of times we see that shot of Maxime addressing the room. And the king and queen walking down some stairs, too. I kind of wished they'd have one of them trip once, just for variety.
-They got some good speakers in, so yay.
-I would just like to comment again of the adorableness of Cute Robespierre Guy. The special feature did not focus nearly enough on him.
-The documentary, however, was rather overloaded in that respect. I've been trying to convince people for months that Maxime's role in certain things wasn't quite what it is made out to be by some people, and this is exactly what I don't need them seeing. They trumpet on so much about him here that you might well think it isn't much of a stretch to believe he controlled the temperature. :P
-In the end, though, it's a documentary for people who don't really know much about the French Revolution, and in that respect it does its job well. I remember I absolutely loved it when I first watched it, and it led to my interest in the French Revolution. I didn't begin to learn about things in detail until a few months ago, but still, I don't believe I'd have even been interested if I hadn't seen this documentary.
Final Grade: C
*Change to B+ if the only thing you know about the French Revolution is the fact that it was indeed a revolution which took place in a country called France.
EDIT: Using this wonderful site, I have come up with the following.
...XD;
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Date: 2006-08-03 05:15 pm (UTC)Ah-HA, the real reason for Thermidor--they were just sick of Maxime's paranoia and general high blood pressure making all Paris into an oven.
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Date: 2006-08-04 01:01 am (UTC)