10 Biggest Lies In Recent Movie Biopics
2. Meeting The Duke - Napoleon
After many, many attempts to bring the life of Napoleon Bonaparte to screen, Ridley Scott finally released his take on the infamous Corsican in 2023, and reaction to it was… mixed.
Scott's film came under massive scrutiny from historians, many of whom claimed it was riddled with inaccuracies. The director’s response to this was “Excuse me, mate, were you there? No? Well, shut the flip up then.”
Only he didn’t say flip.
Listing all of the things wrong with Napoleon would take several hours, so let’s zero in on one particularly egregious scene in the movie.
After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, the disgraced Emperor (played by Joaquin Phoenix) is taken hostage and comes face-to-face with his great enemy, the Duke of Wellington (Rupert Everett). The two have a very respectful conversation, despite their bitter rivalry, where it’s determined that the beaten leader will be exiled to the island of St. Helena. Truly, this is one of the most historically significant chinwags of the last 300 years… only it would be, if it had actually happened.
Truthfully, Napoleon never met Wellington. Not at Waterloo, not anywhere.
Oh Ridley, what are you like?