Not a Review of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon

Ridley Scott’s recently release movie Napoleon is a long long film; but what interests me is not even where the film went, what interest me is the line of thought which rotated in my head whilst on the edge of sleep during the cinematic viewing. Napoleon follows a long tradition of slowly paced historical pictures, but where movies like Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin use that slow pacing methodically, Scott’s film does not. It doesn’t even offer any quiet humor the way McDonagh’s film does. I hesitate to go back to an early epic like 1960’s Spartacus because that film also put me to sleep twice whilst trying to watch it for a film course in college. But even, Spartacus was paced in such away that served the story. It was the historical aspects that swirled in my drowsy mind.

One thing not taught in high school world history was that Napoleon’s reign in Italy led directly to the peninsula’s unification. The first incarnation of the flag was the Cispadane Republic flag raised during the Napoleonic era in 1797. There is a folk story I read as a kid. I can’t say whether the source was reliable, but it goes:

“French ships kept being dispatched to plunder Sicily. And Sicily getting used to surrounding nations coming after them, put together an originally volunteer militia/intelligence organization. Because the French were common aggressors, they named it the MAFIA, Morte alla Francia Italia Anelia (translated “Death to the French is Italy’s Cry”). ”

This is the tale I’ve known since I was twelve. There is absolutely information missing from this history. I only (re)searched the acronym and am recalling the rest from how I gathered it in my preteen days.

My Italian ancestry is mostly Sicilian and I take pride in the Mafia revolt against colonizing forces that only wish to plunder resources. And although the birth of Fascism was in Italy, so was the birth of Antifascism. Even now the Italian folk song. “Bella Ciao” is raised up by groups fighting against Fascism like the Kurdish defending against Turkey and the Assad Regime. Or like the Atlanta forest defenders fighting for their voices as citizens to be heard over that of corporations in their government.     

That brings us back to Ireland and its banshees. The Irish fought for a voice from an uncaring government. They were starved and used for the enrichment of the English crown. Then when they stood up, they were called terrorist. During the Irish Starvation (the phrase “famine” is a mischaracterization), the Choctaw Nation put together a fund and sent it across the ocean to help the Irish people. They never forgot. The Irish were indigenous, colonized. The English started geographically close to perfect their perverted colonizing tactics and America being England’s estranged son continued the English tradition upon Native American nations. The Irish and Choctaw still have a good relationship. The Irish (of Ireland) typically support indigenous causes, because of their brutal history.    

I am the genetic tics of two revolutionary islands. But I am a citizen of a colonizer nation. Napoleon had political ambitions, which in that century could only be built on a base of blood. Misinterpretations of Napoleonic history inspired people like Benito Mussolini to be a strong man ruler. England just wanted resources and didn’t care how many bodies they added to the pile. What excuse does America have? My country funds the genocide of the Palestinian people. Many leaders bedazzled by the Antisemitic equals Antizionist false equivalency. The general public is educating itself, as should our leaders. Its time to defund Israel.

Much like the claustrophobic scene of a horse and rider falling through the ice of a lake smashed up by French cannons, we arrive at the end. We shake the sleep off our eyes and wake up. We take a moment to check for our belongs before leaving the theatre. Or maybe you won’t leave the cinema. Maybe you’ll continue watching screens while people die from the money your government collects in taxes. I don’t know about you, but I’m leaving the movie theatre. Write your representatives, tell them you don’t want your money spent on apartheid and genocide.

“As a proud Irish/Italian American:

“Ceasefire!” (a real one) “Free free Palestine, free free Gaza”
”