'Barbarians' is a different history lesson
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By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
A very controversial film, a very silly television comedy and a very informative mini-series are all in this edition of the DVD review column.
Terry Jones' Barbarians
Terry Jones is best known as one of the members of Monty Python's Flying Circus, but he has made his mark as an author, screenwriter and director as well. He is also better known in Great Britain as a popular historian through several documentary mini-series including this one on a very misunderstood subject: barbarians -- specifically, the classical barbarians, the people who were defined as such by the Romans.
We've heard of them: the Celts, the Huns, the Goths and the Vandals, among others. The image most people have is these people were primitive, smelly and violent and they eventually overtook the educated and cultured people of Rome.
Well, not quite, according to this very engaging four-part film. Jones uses the archaeological record to show these groups have received a bum rap thanks largely to slanted written accounts left by the Romans themselves.
It's interesting to note the Greeks, with their many accomplishments in math and science and the Persians, who built an empire that Rome could not conquer were also consider to be barbaric by the Romans.
With a bit of humor and a lot of traveling to show us the actual historical sites, "Barbarians" just might interest non-history buffs, if they give it a chance.
For more information, log onto www.koch
vision.com.
September Dawn
What a thorny little film this is! Released at a time when a Mormon is running for president, this account of a massacre of non-Mormon settlers by fanatical Mormons in 1857 could easily be seen by people as political propaganda and as bigotry against a religion.
Any student of history will tell you that people have done some very bad things in the name of religion and these acts are continuing in the name of faiths that preach peace and brotherly love.
How the subject matter is approached for a film is a difficult proposition. If the story is presented in the hopes of illuminating and discouraging prejudice, then perhaps a film is a worthwhile effort.
Where director Christopher Cain, who also co-wrote the screenplay, goes wrong is not providing enough of the needed context to show why the massacre took place. The Mormons had been the subjects of overwhelming hatred that had resulted in the murder of the church's leader, Joseph Smith. By 1857, they had established themselves in Utah and feared an invasion by the United States Army.
Acts of murderous intolerance undoubtedly caused this terrible act of revenge. Religious fanaticism had simply bred more paranoia.
Cain, however, doesn't provide enough of this concept to fully show the depth of this tragedy of prejudice. Instead we get a film about bad crazy religious guys with beards going off the deep end.
In this era when people are particularly sensitive about such matter, this ham-handed approach is very unwelcome.
For more information, log onto www.sonypictures.com.
The Best of Crank Yankers Uncensored
I love the way material on DVD is packaged, packaged again and then re-packaged. "Crank Yankers," the crank telephone call show on Comedy Central, has already been released on DVD, but here is a handy one disc "best-of" set that allows you to see and hear the things Comedy Central wouldn't allow.
The premise of "Crank Yankers" is to have a comedian including Tracy Morgan, Denis Leary, Wanda Sykes, Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carrola, among others to call up a business and torture some poor slob who happened to pick up the phone. These calls are then presented on screen with Muppet-like puppets.
I have to admit that some of these bits are pretty funny, but I always feel a little guilty laughing at such purely sophomoric stuff. This is wildly politically incorrect material and kids really shouldn't be exposed to it.
For more information, log onto www.comedycentral.com.
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