Watched Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) this weekend for the first time since childhood. It is such

[TooBigaTent]

a great film - and pretty damn relevant to our current "situation."

The things I picked up on with a now-adult perspective included:

1) the benevolent king (Louis XVI) who really cared for his subjects and resisted the maneuvers of the church and the chief justice to frame and condemn Esmeralda. If we only had leaders who were this concerned with the welfare of their "subjects."

2) the struggle between the church (Archdeacon) and the law (Frollo) with the king arbitrating between these two opposing forces. The complicated good/evil characteristic of these two institutions needed to be reined in by the monarch - today we are at their mercy because of the concentration of power.

3) the final confrontation with "the people" in which the king makes the right decision. Surprisingly, he does not order his troops to attack the protesters as is the case today.

4) last but not least - the French people rise up for justice and actively confront the powers that be, at considerable risk to themselves. We pampered Americans could learn a lot from those "surrender monkeys."

Sure, it is a movie based on a novel. But just maybe, we can learn from this fictionalized past how to deal with our present disfunctional/criminal rulers.

[Lint Head]

1. Victor Hugo did not live in a vacuum. He was aware of the lack

of human decency when it comes to the people in power. Greta movie. I saw it as a child and cried at the end. :dem:

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. Me, too. And I had some of the same thoughts.

Particularly on 2). How the implication that even the power of the church could not stand up to the law, when the law is perverted by personal ambitions. And that faith (the archdeacon) and the secular (the law) are in fact two sides of the same coin - the archdeacon and Frollo being brothers.

A very complex tale, in the film, and more so in the novel in which Esmeralda is hanged and Phoebus survives the end, and the hunchback entombs himself with Esmeralda's body.

[Speck Tater]

3. Another great relevant classic:

Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times which you can watch on YouTube:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qDnDaDYZ2AQ

It never ceases to amaze me how actually modern this film is, even after almost three quarters of a century. I've watched it a dozen times. And now that I'm reminded of it, I think I'll watch it again right now!

[Forkboy]

4. Excellent insights.

The last time I saw the movie was about 15 years ago, and to be honest I just always watched it for the special effects, and how the movie relates to horror cinema history, a minor hobby of mine. :)

I'll have to watch it again with your thoughts on it in mind.