Napoleon Review: Joaquin Phoenix in Ridley Scott’s historical classic movie

Noapolean Review: “The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos,” says Joaquin Phoenix in Ridley Scott’s historical classic “Napoleon.” The winner will be the one who can control the chaos, both his own and that of his opponents.” Napoleon, directed by Ridley Scott, is a cinematic examination of the life of the French military commander and emperor.

The film promises political resonance set against the turbulence that followed the French Revolution in 1789. Scott’s big ambition sweeps you through multiple countries and decades, allowing you to witness numerous spectacular battle scenes along the way.

Napoleon’s Release Date in India

The movie was released on November 24, 2023, in India.

Napoleon Analysis

Napoleon is a masterfully produced biography of the general who changed the battlefield, by David Scarpa and Ridley Scott. During the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette was guillotined in 1789.

As Scott follows up the news about Marie Antoinette with a frightening close-shot of her head, vegetables hurled at her clinging to her blonde hair, viewers are confronted with the grim reality of mortar shells on men and animals. Joaquin Phoenix’s character, a young Corsican soldier, examines everything with a heavy-lidded sneer that he keeps throughout the film.

The new commanders send Joaquin to the town of Toulon to fight and retake control of a fort that the British Army had taken. Joaquin adjusts his renowned hat from an off-centre angle to a tidy, symmetrical one moments before he assaults. A cinematic nod as a symbol of the beginning of his greatness. The ensuing fights are a spectacle, fought hand-to-hand on arid battlefields where a soldier’s blood mixes with snow or sand (depending on the location).

With magnificent performances and superb directing by Scott, the visuals bring history books to life on a big silver screen. As cavalrymen charge across misty plains and infantrymen are blasted to shreds by cannonballs, the blood, smoke, and pandemonium give flavour to the film.

The meeting with Vanessa Kirby’s Joséphine is crucial for Napoleon. Many of the insecurities that the ‘Corsican bandit,’ who would aspire to become Emperor of France, appears to wear like a second skin, are the result of his relationship with his beloved Josephine. Vanessa’s Joséphine is endearing, down-to-earth, poised, and her eyes twinkle.

The Negatives

Despite the continuing tension between them, the film does not dive into why Napoleon is so passionately in love with her or whether she loves him at all. In the voiceover, Joaquin reads many of Napoleon’s longing letters to Joséphine. In this letter, the famed soldier pours his heart out, hoping for reciprocation. Their relationship, however, is really a side dish to the main course. Napoleon’s journey from humble soldier to one of the greatest generals and, eventually, Emperor

The most difficult aspect of making a biography is selecting what to leave out. In Napoleon’s case, Scott strives to cover practically every terrain, from the first Battle of Toulon to Napoleon’s famous conquest of Egypt and the Battle of Waterloo. The Battle of Waterloo is presented as the defining moment that would ruin Napoleon’s reputation after he finally finds his equal in Rupert Everett’s performance as the Duke of Wellington.

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What is the running time?

With a duration of 160 minutes, the film packs in a little too much, even if the majority of it is beautifully done. Scott is reportedly working on a longer version of his film, closer to 4 hours in length. He is doing this for the OTT release, which could do greater credit to the man who changed the course of history for France and Europe.

Who was Napoleon?

Napoleon Bonaparte was the Emperor of France and a military commander who rose to power during the French Revolution. He was also a well-known great combat tactician who led numerous victorious campaigns throughout the Revolutionary War.

Napoleon controlled France from 1804 to 1814, with a brief interlude in 1815. His political and cultural influence is both admired and criticized. He is regarded as one of history’s greatest military leaders, and his wars and campaigns are still studied in military schools around the world.

Was Napoleon’s famous love affair with Joséphine a legend?

The plot of Scott’s film revolves around Napoleon’s and Joséphine’s romance. According to the filmmaker, it depicts the French emperor as someone who “conquered the world to try to win her [Josephine’s] love. When he couldn’t, conquered it to destroy her, and he destroyed himself in the process.” During the French Revolution, Joséphine was widowed with two small children, Marie-Josèphe and Rose de Beauharnais. She was also unable to access her family’s fortune from Martinique sugar plantations or her guillotined husband’s estate.

She was no longer considered young at the age of 30 and was encouraged to marry the up-and-coming young Corsican general. Napoleon Buonaparte had been madly in love with her since the first time he saw her. Napoleon was sent to lead the revolutionary army in Italy after their marriage in March 1796. This is when the general began writing her passionate letters filled with claims of love and emotional blackmail.

Napoleon and Joséphine were a powerful couple that used each other’s influence to advance in society. Their personal lives were filled with turbulence, and the general’s power over his wife It was followed by his own family’s delight in spreading rumours to ruin her reputation.

However, as Napoleon became preoccupied with younger suitors drawn to his position and power, the likelihood of divorce increased. The separation was unavoidable once Napoleon declared a hereditary empire in 1804. Joséphine was unable to provide him with an heir. In 1809, Joséphine’s fate was sealed, and the divorce was depicted as a sacrifice to the nation’s necessities.

Waterloo Battle

The Battle of Waterloo, which took place on June 18, 1815, marked the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars. Two forces from the Seventh Coalition defeated a French army under Napoleon’s command.

One of these was a British-led force under the Duke of Wellington that included troops from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Hanover, Brunswick, and Nassau. Waterloo was the decisive engagement of Napoleon’s Waterloo campaign. After Borodino, it was also the bloodiest single-day fight of the Napoleonic Wars.

Four days later, Napoleon abdicated, and coalition forces stormed Paris on July 7. The defeat at Waterloo effectively ended Napoleon’s Hundred Days of Exile. It resulted in Napoleon’s second and last abdication as Emperor of France, effectively ending the First French Empire.

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Other Napoleon Movies

Napoleon: The 1927 war documentary on the life of the French general and Emperor Napoleon is another gripping movie.

The 1970 classic Waterloo depicts Napoleon’s return from exile and the subsequent Battle of Waterloo.