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30 day movie meme
Jul. 24th, 2010 03:17 pmDay 14
( Previous days )
Day 14 - A movie that no one would expect you to love - Nobody's ever expressed surprise at my love of any particular movie. Maybe this will surprise a few people, I don't know. The Thirteenth Warrior with Antonio Banderas as a disgraced Arab nobleman who gets shanghaied into a Viking raid on an enclave of cannibals in the northern wilderness. Based on the journal-style novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton, who in turn based it on the story of Beowulf and on the journals of Ibn Fadlan, a real Arab nobleman of the time. The epilog of the book says Crichton hopes Fadlan wouldn't have minded the bizarre fictional adventure he sent him on. I've loved the movie for years, but only read the book recently. Oddly enough, my favorite bit in the movie doesn't occur in the book, much to my disappointment. It's the part just after Fadlan has gone off with the Vikings and no longer has anyone who speaks his language to talk to. We hear the Vikings' speech from his point of view for a few days, first as complete gibberish, then with an understandable word here and there, gradually increasing until one day one of the Vikings insults him, and Fadlan shocks everyone by answering him in their language. It was just nifty. Anyway, it's a good movie, I think.
( 30-day movie meme )
( Previous days )
Day 14 - A movie that no one would expect you to love - Nobody's ever expressed surprise at my love of any particular movie. Maybe this will surprise a few people, I don't know. The Thirteenth Warrior with Antonio Banderas as a disgraced Arab nobleman who gets shanghaied into a Viking raid on an enclave of cannibals in the northern wilderness. Based on the journal-style novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton, who in turn based it on the story of Beowulf and on the journals of Ibn Fadlan, a real Arab nobleman of the time. The epilog of the book says Crichton hopes Fadlan wouldn't have minded the bizarre fictional adventure he sent him on. I've loved the movie for years, but only read the book recently. Oddly enough, my favorite bit in the movie doesn't occur in the book, much to my disappointment. It's the part just after Fadlan has gone off with the Vikings and no longer has anyone who speaks his language to talk to. We hear the Vikings' speech from his point of view for a few days, first as complete gibberish, then with an understandable word here and there, gradually increasing until one day one of the Vikings insults him, and Fadlan shocks everyone by answering him in their language. It was just nifty. Anyway, it's a good movie, I think.
( 30-day movie meme )
