Goodness knows how it feels actually to make a film like The Eagle and put it out there, for critics and viewers to have their say – an ever more public say, with the internet. I find myself fiercely protective of the film (which I have seen once at a preview – and loved it, not just because I have to!) And of the film-makers, although they need no protection from me. At times they get criticised for what, to me, is actually all part of capturing the essence of Rosemary’s story and feel for it so well. But this concluding sentence of one broadly supportive New York review, with its comment that Rosemary Sutcliff‘s wonderful, beautifully told story was ‘tired’ , definitely got me going about the book, let alone the film!
The film won’t be taking home any big awards but it deserves credit for being enjoyable and for trying to make a tired story be a little more original. (Rating: Three out of five stars).
via The Eagle is Not Your Average Gone with the Wind – Film & Television – AllMediaNY.
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 
What can I say. Sounds like a typical comment from the land where historical knowleedege is scarce and an attention span of more than 30 minutes almost absent. I doubt whether the author even read the book, or they would have noticed the real differences. If there’s anything ‘tired’ about it, I fear it’s the ‘tired-old’ Hollywood way to push every story through that filter that they call ‘commercially interest’, which adds needless violence to screenplays (the violent death of a boy), unhistorical props to sets (Leather armour! Bracers!) and unhistoriaal details to plots because that is ‘what they audience wants’.
Let’s hope that this movie does no damage to the book, which is and will always be a true gem.
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Thanks for the comment Robert. Actually, far from damage, the film seems to be sending people to the book … in purchases and in library copies.
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