With ‘Napoleon’, old master Ridley Scott (‘Blade Runner’) has added another historical epic to his resume. The focus here is on the eponymous conqueror and emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix), who is not only portrayed as a virtuoso war strategist, but has a lot to do with the rather ambivalent relationship with his wife Josephine (Vanessa Kirby).
In cinema, of course, it is the battle sequences that are truly grand and extremely impressive in their attention to detail that make a huge impression. For example, while the Battle of Austerlitz is given a lot of time to showcase Napoleon’s tactical genius, the Egyptian campaign is relatively short in the theatrical version. There is still quite an impressive scene to admire.
Napoleon never shot the pyramids!
We see Napoleon lining up with the French-Oriental army just in front of the pyramids, while the Mamluk army assembles opposite him. Napoleon then fires a cracking cannon that shoots directly at one of the wonders of the world: an image that will certainly linger in your memory for a long time. There will be no further armed conflict between the two sides.
In reality the whole thing looked a little different. More than 20,000 soldiers (all but 30 on the Mamluk side) died in the so-called “Battle of the Pyramids.” In reality, the battle took place in a completely different place. Napoleon’s soldiers couldn’t even see the pyramids. Instead, this is historical disinformation.
Ultimately, Napoleon managed to defeat the Mamluks, occupy Egypt and thus put an end to Turkish rule in the North African country, which had lasted for 700 years. However, the military leader never fought in the shadow of the pyramids. As a stickler for historical accuracy, you may certainly find this annoying (and at many other points in the film). Visually, however, the scene is simply extremely effective.