thephfactor1 wrote:I was disappointed with The Eagle as well, but the only problem I had with that one was the poor acting. I was glad they took out the romance bit, it seemed extraneous and not very interesting. The violence was portrayed realistically, it wasn't "more bloodthirsty". What I liked about it was the ridiculously good production design and locations. I wish they would make one of my favorite Sutcliffes like The Lantern Bearers. :/
Sorry, but that 'not very interesting and extraneous romance' was nothing of the sort. I know that the almost total absence of women in the movie was true historically to the Roman way of doing things. But I found it a distastefully woman-less production, nonetheless. When St Paul wrote the first chapter of his letter to the Romans, he might as well have been referring to Roman society as it was then, as well as for the foreseeable future, since many of the high-up Romans, in particular, had a culture of regarding women as inferior to men, as beneath their notice, and thus were unworthy of men's affection or consideration, except for producing children.
But even then, when women had little or no civil rights, and lived in relative isolation from even their own husbands, fathers, brothers & sons, there were still ways for men and women to meet up privately, and for women to make a sometimes vital difference for good or for evil, or at least be included in the action. This was especially true when money, property and position was less important. And it was one reason why Roman soldiers, who weren't supposed to marry, ended up settling down wherever they finished their service, in places like Gaul, Britannia or Hispania.
Thus Cottia, as a neighbour, could reasonably meet Marcus at the Gladiator games, become Marcus' trusted friend, at least to mind his dog and prized service bracelet, and then, on his return, to become a definite and cogent reason for Marcus Aquila to stay on in Britain to enjoy his rewards as her husband, even though romance, 21st century style, was definitely out of the question.
This is also how authors such as Rosemary Sutcliffe, Geoffrey Trease, and even C.S.Lewis liked to portray the way girls and boys related in their novels - as friends and colleagues, learning to work together, and finding they had interests, values and goals in common, rather than in the way Susan and Caspian were portrayed in the film PC. Not that I thought that kiss any great deal, only that as Susan commented, herself, in the film, it would have been inappropriate to take such physicality any further than what she did.
I agree with you that
The Eagle had some good qualities, but they ruined the story, especially Guern's, but also Marcus & Esca's escape with the eagle. Guern in the book recounts what happened to the 9th legion, and why it happened. He makes no bones about his own part in it, and emphasizes if he was to survive at all, he would have been very reliant on the kindness and hospitality offered by less ferocious Pictish tribes, and the good graces of the woman he was happy to have as his wife. Killing a boy for allowing Marcus & Esca to escape was never part of Rosemary Sutcliffe's story, and neither was Guern assembling other missing legionnaries to help with that escape. In the book there was no bloody battle, only a relatively bloodless ambush set by Marcus & Esca and a recognition on both the Pictish and Roman sides of the validity of Marcus's motives in recovering the eagle to avenge his father.
I felt about this ambush in
Eagle of the Ninth in much the same way as I felt about Caspian's bluffing Gumpas in VDT (the book). Both incidents were meant by their authors to show how battles aren't always necessary to achieve good results, but were left out by the scriptwriters. So where does that leave this new production? Well, I definitely don't want any unnecessary large battles when finding and freeing Rilian should be the main emphasis of the movie. Nor should there be any romance between Jill and Eustace. They should spend much of the
Silver Chair movie learning to trust and rely on each other as close friends, not smooching or anything like it.