Viewed in theaters, 21 February 2011
As a homeschooler, I constantly found myself in the middle of reading a curriculum of 50-60 novels per year. Consequently, many of those novels disappeared under the sheer number of books I've read. A few of them stood out as exceptional; "The Eagle of the Ninth" was one of them. I read it in the 5th grade and still remember it vividly; it is one of my favorite books from my entire homeschooling career. When I learned that there was a film adaptation of it, I was pretty excited--and not even Channing Tatum could dampen my enthusiasm. (WHAT?! I actually LIKE Channing Tatum in this movie?? What is the world coming to??)
I usually make the mistake of bringing in unnecessarily high expectations to a movie; this leads to many disappointments. Fortunately, "The Eagle" did not disappoint--on the contrary, it made me want to go re-read the novel. It was books like this that made me want to make historically-based fictional films.
The storyline of "The Eagle" in a nutshell: Marcus Aquila's father had been the leader of the ill-fated Ninth Legion of Rome, a troop of soldiers that was sent to the "edge of the known Roman world" in northern Britain on their maiden voyage. They were never seen again. For a Roman soldier, this was shameful--but it made it even worse that their revered golden eagle standard was lost. (The Roman soldier holds the eagle in the highest honor and will die defending it--much like Americans have done for the Star-Spangled Banner.) The Emperor Hadrian of Rome built a wall on the edge of the Roman world to avoid the travesty and shame of such a loss again.
Marcus has grown up knowing immense shame and dishonor on his family. Thus, he's determined to set the record straight and show his family to be worthy of honor again. He hears a rumor that the lost Eagle of the Ninth Legion has been seen in Northern Britain and decides to embark on a suicidal journey to recapture it with the help of a young British slave named Esca. One major problem stands in his way: The Eagle is rumored to be on the other side of Hadrian's Wall, past the edge of the known world, held by a savage Briton tribe.
Yes, I agree with some of the mean-spirited armchair critics across cyberspace that this is not a perfect film. There are several glaring errors in continuity--for example, a marauding crowd of murderous savages simply disappears in the next shot. A severe battle wound keeps opening and closing without any obvious provocation or reason. Many of the actors don't look remotely Roman. However, I think this film is extremely well done, a bloodless cross between "Gladiator" and "Braveheart" that actually gets its point across very well. It's almost timeless--I think it could have been made in the 1950's or in the 2030's and have the exact same universal themes and messages.
Honor. Integrity. Respect. These themes are etched into the stone foundation of this story. Marcus' and Esca's lives are built upon it. As the story progresses, the two young men see that they come from very different cultures that have very similar moral systems. The message of, "Respect other people--they're really not that different from you" is strong and delivered well.
NEGATIVES:
>>Profanity: There's really only about 6 profanities, and none of them are particularly offensive or highlighted. It's refreshing to see an intense film that doesn't rely on obscene language to get its point across.
>>Violence: For those of us who have seen other "sandal epics," this one is extremely tame. It's more in the vein of "Pirates of the Caribbean," a mostly bloodless battle film. People get their throats slit (offscreen), but we see absolutely no blood. A boar hunt ends in the animal getting cleaned by a character and its entrails thrown into the bushes nearby. Ancient warfare is conducted with the help of swords, clubs, shields, chariots, and flaming moats of tar. Someone is beheaded (offscreen); people fall from heights and land offscreen; battlefields are covered in casualties. Esca gets painfully beaten and roughed up by a gladiator. Marcus comes to a realization that his idealized Rome is not always as beautiful as he thinks--when he blames Esca's people for his father's death, Esca replies with a story of the same battle from his family's side, detailing the pain that his family went through, including his father taking his mother's life so as to protect her from the molesting, raping Roman armies.
>>Spiritual content: Marcus is a deeply religious Roman, praying to his ancestors and the "god of my fathers" for protection and victory in battle. He desires honor and virtue, and he performs final rites to casualties of battles, saying, "Fathers, brothers, sons, may peace and honor follow you. May you know no strife. May your souls soar with the Eagle of the Ninth." A Druid priest makes a sacrifice of a captured Roman soldier. The Romans talk about an afterlife. A Briton tribe performs an initiation ritual in which the young men are shown drinking some kind of beverage and smoking some kind of drug, chanting and dancing, and then they are given "manhood" status by a strangely-dressed neighborhood shaman.
>>Alcohol and Drugs: The aforementioned manhood initiation in the British tribe is performed under the influence of hallucenogenic drugs and beverages. Wine makes a passing appearance at a dinner. Marcus asks for wine to dull the ache of painful surgery on his wounded leg.
>>Sexual content: Absolutely nothing...I don't think I saw more than three women in the whole movie!
There are several poignant moments between Esca and Marcus, moments that show us their true character, moments that are reminiscent of Sam and Frodo in the "Lord of the Rings." Esca tells Marcus, "I hate everything you stand for, everything you are...but you saved me [from the gladiator]. And for that I will serve you." Another moment comes when Marcus is gushing his unbridled, unquestioning patriotism and he blames Esca's people. When Esca relates the same story--from his own people's side--Marcus realizes that his perfect, idealized vision of Rome is not necessarily the reality. He also realizes that he and Esca are very similar, having been raised with the same notions of honor and integrity.
That's really the beautiful moral to this story. There is a powerful underlying theme of HONOR in this film that is unavoidable and unforgettable. I come away from this film with a greater understanding of integrity and a deeper appreciation for family honor and freedom. I would not recommend this film for kids younger than 13 or so, simply based on the violence factor. However, I think this film has a very strong potential to spark some very deep and meaningful conversations about how we treat other people and how we carry ourselves through life. Well acted (yes, even Channing Tatum's acting is good!), well produced, and well worth the time.
5 1/2 out of 6 stars
So that everyone (including myself) may benefit from it, please feel free to leave your own personal opinion of this film.
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