Originally posted by semperfortis
reply to post by halfoldman
"Goya's Ghosts"
I am certainly learning a lot here. That or making me a busy guy in front of the TV in the coming future
What exactly is Goya's Ghost about? Never heard of it.
Semper
Goya's Ghosts centers around the painter Goya during the Spanish Inquisition and the Revolutionary French period. Goya becomes more of an observer,
especially of the opportunist Lorenzo, who first heads the tortures of the Inquisition, and later becomes the leader of the atheistic French
revolutionary invasion of Spain.
Those investigated by the Inquisition are "put to the question" through torture whereby they will confess to anything, although the church's logic
is that God will give the innocent the strength to withstand the tortures. This was quite an important question around 2004/2005 when the USA used
rendition and torture in its "war on terror".
There are many websites on the film. Wikipedia has a very average synopsis that doesn't quite do the film and the topical questions it raises justice
en.wikipedia.org...'s_Ghosts
Another must-see take on history is "Breakfast on Pluto" about an Irish transgender drag queen who lives through the violent politics of the 1970s.
However, the troubles of reality play second fiddle to her fantastical make-up and wardrobe. Excellent scenes and a killer soundtrack:
en.wikipedia.org...(film)
As far as prehistoric themes go, I was personally very disappointed by 10, 000 BC (although some of the dreadlocked actors come from Cape Town, and
I've seen one a few times on my campus). The mammoths look like bunnies when they run. The unsurpassed classic of the genre is Quest for Fire, and
just looking at the images gets me all nostalgic for the 1980s and excited. The period also brought us the main historcal film classics - Amadeus and
The Mission.
(For some reason the Wiki addresses above linked me to the movies, but here they link to the books - oh well, the titles are there for anyone
interested in viewing the films.)
[edit on 8-2-2010 by halfoldman]