Page 98 - All About History - Issue 58-17
P. 98
HISTORY HOLLYWOOD
VS
Fact versus fiction on the silver screen
THE 13TH WARRIOR
Director: John McTiernan Starring: Antonio Banderas, Diane Venora, Omar Sharif Country: United States Released: 1999
This tale of an Arabian diplomat’s experience with the Vikings may
ICT It may be very inaccurate
haveabasisinfactsbutwhatitdepictsisfarfromthetruth but it is a real guilty pleasure!
The film is an adaption of At the beginning of the Ahmad met the Vikings in Ahmad is unable to speak Theenemiesinthefilm,
01 Michael Crichton’s novel 02 film,Ahmad’scaravanis 03922, yet one of the Vikings 04 Latin or Greek, despite 05 the Wendol, are entirely
Eaters of the Dead but is based on attacked by a group of “murderous is depicted wearing the helmet of a being an educated man, instead fictional. They are based on Grendel,
the real-life chronicle of Ahmad bandits” known as the Tatars before Spanish conquistador, which wasn’t relying on his friend to interpret. one of the antagonists from Beowulf,
IbnFadlanandhisexperiencewith heissavedbytheVikings.Infact developed until the 16th century and ButhelearnstheVikings’language andarepresentedinthefilm as
theVikings.Thefirst10minutes the Tatars did not appear until at is from the wrong country. Beowulf’s quickly and speaks it fluently for the last surviving Neanderthals,
pass muster but after that it quickly least the 13th century, making their armour is also inaccurate — his therestofthefilm,whichseems despite the fact they became extinct
descends into fantasy. inclusion anachronistic. breastplate is from the 15th century. rather unrealistic. thousands of years before.
© Alamy
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