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As holiday entertainment goes, one could do worse than spend two-and-a-half hours (157 minutes) with Napoleon.

Napoleon_Film_poster

Wikipedia tells us: "Napoleon is a 2023 epic historical drama film directed and produced by Ridley Scott and written by David Scarpa. Based on the story of Napoleon Bonaparte, primarily depicting the French leader's rise to power as well as his relationship with his [first} wife, Joséphine, the film stars Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon and Vanessa Kirby as Joséphine."

The many battle scenes are spectacular and have been praised for their accuracy.

One of the most spectacular battle reenactments in the film is during the final stages of the Battle of Austerlitz, described (elsewhere) in Wikipedia as follows:

"General panic seized the Allied army, and it abandoned the field in all possible directions. A famous episode occurred during this retreat: Russian forces that the French right had defeated withdrew south towards Vienna via the frozen Satschan ponds. French artillery pounded towards the men, and the ice was broken due to the bombardment. The men drowned in the cold ponds, dozens of Russian artillery pieces going down with them. Estimates of how many guns were captured differ: there may have been as few as 38 or more than 100. Sources also differ about casualties, with figures ranging between 200 and 2,000 dead. Many drowning Russians were saved by their victorious foes. However, local evidence later made public suggests that Napoleon's account of the catastrophe may have been exaggerated; on his instructions, the lakes were drained a few days after the battle and the corpses of only two or three men, with some 150 horses, were found. However, Tsar Alexander I confirmed the incident after the war." 

Much of the movie is a love storey and here some poetic licence is taken: at the divorce, our hero slaps Joséphine (passionate but untrue); his mistress in Egypt is glossed over; and his second wife is hardly mentioned, although they were married for 11 years and had a good relationship. A number of their, many, biographers doubt that they were still 'in love' following their, separate, affairs with other lovers. 

But for me, the main omissions were his many progressive political, legal and cultural reforms that are not, apparently, worth a mention. 

True, his opposition to Church power and consequent secular reforms are briefly hinted at when he refuses to be crowned by the Church.  But there is no mention of his abolition of Jewish Gettos in Venice and Rome, later reinstated by the Vatican, nor of his support for the introduction of the Metric System nor of the Code Napoléon, the civil code - reforms that are still in place today.  

The movie is seen through (thru) an American lens.  The British, (contemporaneously defending Canada against US aggression, in the war of 1812) do not fare well. Britain's most successful soldier: Viscount Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, who had already defeated Napoleon's brother and generally routed the French in the Peninsular Wars (Spain and Portugal - a victory celebrated by Beethoven with his orchestral piece: Wellington's Victory - Opus 91) is briefly represented as a pompous incompetent. 

Yet as we all know, it was he who prevailed at the Battle of Waterloo, initially against a superior force: "Prepare to Receive Cavalry!";  "Form Squares".  But we didn't get to see or hear the famous Highland Piper, rallying the British on to victory.

Again, to quote Wikipedia (on the film):

"At the Battle of Waterloo in June, Napoleon, having amassed more troops, confronts the British army under the Duke of Wellington. French cavalry charges are repulsed by British infantry squares, and a desperate Napoleon urges his remaining soldiers forward, but this advance is decimated by re-formed lines of enemy infantry. The forces of Prussian Marshal Blücher arrive to reinforce Wellington, and the French are broken. As Napoleon retreats, he salutes Wellington.

Napoleon is exiled, this time to the island of Saint Helena in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and is seen bantering with children, writing his memoirs that would become a worldwide best-seller, and presenting to his listeners a version of history where he is always right.

Napoleon dies in 1821, hearing Joséphine beckon him to meet her again. An epilogue notes that roughly 3 million people died in the Coalition Wars (1792-1815)."

Despite it's imperfections, Wendy and I both enjoyed the film and have recommended it to our friends.  After all, it's an entertainment not a documentary.

Needless to say, it's reported that French critics hated it.

 

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Travel

Hong Kong to Singapore 2024

 

On February 16th 2024 Wendy and I set-forth on a 20 day trip, revisiting old haunts in SE Asia.

From Hong Kong we made a brief side-trip to Shenzhen in China then embarked on a Cruise, sailing down the east coast, south, to Singapore where we spent a few days, before returning home: [Hong Kong; Ha Long Bay/Hanoi; Hoi An; Ho Chi Min City (Saigon); Bangkok; Ko Samui; Singapore]

 

Read more: Hong Kong to Singapore 2024

Fiction, Recollections & News

The Atomic Bomb according to ChatGPT

 

Introduction:

The other day, my regular interlocutors at our local shopping centre regaled me with a new question: "What is AI?" And that turned into a discussion about ChatGPT.

I had to confess that I'd never used it. So, I thought I would 'kill two birds with one stone' and ask ChatGPT, for material for an article for my website.

Since watching the movie Oppenheimer, reviewed elsewhere on this website, I've found myself, from time-to-time, musing about the development of the atomic bomb and it's profound impact on the modern world. 

Nuclear energy has provided a backdrop to my entire life. The first "atomic bombs" were dropped on Japan the month before I was born. Thus, the potential of nuclear energy was first revealed in an horrendous demonstration of mankind's greatest power since the harnessing of fire.

Very soon the atomic reactors, that had been necessary to accumulate sufficient plutonium for the first bombs, were adapted to peaceful use.  Yet, they forever carried the stigma of over a hundred thousand of innocent lives lost, many of them young children, at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The fear of world devastation followed, as the US and USSR faced-off with ever more powerful weapons of mass destruction.

The stigma and fear has been unfortunate, because, had we more enthusiastically embraced our new scientific knowledge and capabilities to harness this alternative to fire, the threat to the atmosphere now posed by an orgy of burning might have been mitigated.

Method:

So, for this article on the 'atomic bomb', I asked ChatGPT six questions about:

  1. The Manhattan Project; 
  2. Leo Szilard (the father of the nuclear chain reaction);
  3. Tube Alloys (the British bomb project);
  4. the Hanford site (plutonium production);
  5. uranium enrichment (diffusion and centrifugal); and
  6. the Soviet bomb project.

As ChatGPT takes around 20 seconds to write 1000 words and gives a remarkably different result each time, I asked it each question several times and chose selectively from the results.

This is what ChatGPT told me about 'the bomb':

Read more: The Atomic Bomb according to ChatGPT

Opinions and Philosophy

Tragedy in Norway

 

 

The extraordinary tragedy in Norway points yet again to the dangers of extremism in any religion. 

I find it hard to comprehend that anyone can hold their religious beliefs so strongly that they are driven to carefully plan then systematically kill others.  Yet it seems to happen all to often.

The Norwegian murderer, Anders Behring Breivik, reportedly quotes Sydney's Cardinal Pell, John Howard and Peter Costello in his manifesto.   Breivik apparently sees himself as a Christian Knight on a renewed Crusade to stem the influx of Muslims to Europe; and to Norway in particular.

Read more: Tragedy in Norway

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