Netflix - Cleopatra Documentary

[Reggie29]

Anyone watched this?

Let me say from the outset I haven't watched this, however I have seen the trailer and followed the discussion since its release.

Although I take critics with a grain of salt I tend to make up my own mind when it comes to movies and music etc.

Having said that I have read some of the reviews.

The Netflix Cleopatra documentary produced by Jada Pinkett-Smith (yes, Will's wife), has failed miserably as both critics and viewers alike have mercilessly canned the show for being historically inaccurate.

The Egyptians have filed a lawsuit as a result claiming Netflix and the producers have distorted and stolen their culture and history.

They are also going to produce their own factual documentary.

 

First of all Cleopatra was born in Alexandria, Egypt of Greek - Macedonian heritage that dates back to Alexander the Great.

Coins, and paintings depicting her show her to be Caucasian and Egyptian records back up the evidence, yet the producers have labelled the Egyptians racist for disagreeing with them!?

They have cast a British actress of African descent in the lead role.

One of the producers interviewed said and I quote, "My grandmother told me, I don't care what they told you in school, Cleopatra was Black."

Now the issue here is not about racism, it's about presenting facts and evidence that provides the truth as is the purpose of a documentary.

They haven't it seems, consulted any Egyptologists or Antiquities experts or worse if they did they ignored them or edited them out completely.

 

According to the feminist producers, Julius Caesar who conquered and colonised nearly as much of the ancient world as Alexander did, along with Marc Antony and the other Roman males, were weak and insecure.

If someone wants to make a re-imagining or a what if of a subject then fine, do it and call it for what it is, a fictional docu-drama.

What they have done is changed the story to suit their political views based on what's happening today rather than what happened back then.

The Woke movement is rife in the US where they deny history good and bad and change it to suit their agenda and politics.

Like dismantling Confederate Statues and banning the confederate flag in some states for example.

They have even infiltrated Hollywood and the arguments from both sides border on insanity.

 

This includes bagging the movie made in the sixties starring Elizabeth Taylor, where the producers are complaining about how Cleopatra was portrayed.

Gal Gadot is starring in a new adaptation releasing sometime this year, so it'll be interesting to see how that is received.

Disney have been heavily criticised for casting coloured and / or ethnic minorities in their animated and live movies.

There is no problem if the story is a work of fiction as there is a certain poetic licence to be taken because an actor is an actor no matter where they come from and unless a scripted character is clearly defined as a certain race or gender then anyone can play the part.

William Shakespeare, who coincidentally wrote a play about Julius Caesar and Cleopatra used male and female actors interchangeably.

He also cast ethnic actors where necessary.

 

However, when it comes to historical productions it is a different ballgame.

Imagine the uproar and rightly so, if Russell Crowe portrayed Albert Namatjira (an Australian Aboriginal artist) or Tom Hanks played Martin Luther King?

To be an accurate and honest portrayal you would have indigenous actors in those roles.

I learned only yesterday that John Wayne made a movie years ago, Genghis Khan, wtf!?

To try to change any nation's culture or history or is not only wrong but disgraceful.

[Strider]

All you had to say was 'Netflix' and my interest went south. Adding Jada Pinkett-Smith just further cemented my lack of interest. Plus, after reading about her in several history books and seeing several movie adaptations during my life, I am bored with Cleopatra at this point. There are plenty of other interesting women in history to focus on.

Netflix is garbage. Their movie about Herman Mankiewicz called "Mank" was full of historical inaccuracies. Ryan Murphy's "Hollywood" was anachronistic woke bullshit made for illiterate blacks and gays who can't deal with reality. 

On top of that was the recent "Babylon", more bullshit made by today's generation who are jealous of the fact that nobody will remember their woke garbage the way we remember the greats of the golden age of Hollywood. So they try anything to tear the previous generations down using their woke lense of today.

As for John Wayne, that's how the industry worked in the 1950s. There wasn't exactly a surplus of good Mongol actors who could also speak English back then. If a producer came to a studio and said I want to make a movie about Genghis Khan, the studio wasn't going to give away millions to fund a movie with some unknown Mongol in the lead. The producer would need a name the studio could bank on...a name like John Wayne.

 

[redrum]

They've been complaining about Charlie Chan for decades. Here he's receiving a complaint from Biden. 😄

[hummingbird69]

It's called acting for a reason.

[Wolfman]

I still want to see a still  or clip of Peter Grant  as an extra in "Cleopatra" (1963).

[redrum]

19 hours ago, Wolfman said:

I still want to see a still  or clip of Peter Grant  as an extra in "Cleopatra" (1963).

He'd be the one complaining about the bootleg falafel. 

[Wolfman]

20 minutes ago, redrum said:

He'd be the one complaining about the bootleg falafel. 

Bwhahahaha!

 

[redrum]

15 minutes ago, Wolfman said:

Bwhahahaha!

 

And whipping the slaves.