Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Ridley Scott's Arrow hits true with his version of Robin Hood.

I went to see Robin Hood this weekend and was pleasantly surprised. As with most people I went to the movies with my own preconception of what a film version of Robin should look like, should say, or should be.

I sill am haunted by my younger version of Robin Hood, as a swashbuckling, arrow shooting adventurer who robs from the rich and gives to the pore. Haunted I say because I loved those sword fights, and would practice for hours with a small bow and arrow trying to split an hour (I never accomplished that). But as I got older and realized I was never going to split the arrow, a part of the story didn't sit well with me. Robin Hood robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, although I don't want to see people stare and would hope that one day poverty didn't exist, the concept or robbing from the rich and giving to the poor was criminal. After working may way to a middle class level, I'm always one paycheck away from being in the poor house, but as a member of the middle class I'm suddenly looked upon by some as being rich. So the message is; that it is ok to steel from the rich – anyone above poverty – and give to the poor. I don't think so, and here is where I became haunted by my vision of Robin Hood, which is it is ok to steal as long as you give it to the poor. Uggh, and that is a horrible lesson to be teaching kids.

Along comes Ridley Scott's version or Robin Hood, and I'm very happy with the message he is giving. No longer is wealth stolen from the rich, but the message is more that every man is created equal and deserves liberty and justice, which sounds very much like the Declaration of Independence. Men should be free to do what they want in order to provide for their livelihood with out interference or servitude, via taxes, to the state.

To me the story was a reflection of the current times and the current political situation. In the movie Prince John (Oscar Isaac), inherits a war ravaged England from his brother King Richard who is killed in battle, the men of England are away, the economy is in ruin, and taxes need to be raised to fix the mess King Richard left. King John and his first act is to appoint a new Marshall, Godfrey (Mark Strong), who goes about collecting the taxes King John desperately needs to in a very ruthless manner. In doing this Marshall Godfrey turns the people of England against there king. The king discovers he was duped, because French troops are on the shores of England. After the battle with the French, the Barons were appeased to follow the King because of his willingness to sign a charter that would give rights to all men – much like Americas Constitution. The King reneges on his deal and burns the charter in front of all the Barons and announces Robin Hood to be criminal of the crown.

As far as my biased is concerned Oscar Isaac portrayed Obama, oops I mean King John to a tee, and most indicative of this is the final speech he gives. Check out the movie and pay attention to the speech and can see it coming word for word out of Obama, oops I mean King John.