Una recensione:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jan/28...a-gerard-butlerAttila: hot babes, baths and, erm, birth controlThis 2001 made-for-TV movie does get very silly at times, but it does make a surprisingly good fist of the history of the infamous Hun king
Director: Dick Lowry
Entertainment grade: C–
History grade: C
Attila was a fifth-century Hun king who ravaged much of Europe.
Culture
Little is known of the Huns. Some historians think they originated on the borders of China before making their way to Europe. It's a pleasant surprise to find that the film-makers have cast their eyes over what information exists. In an early scene, the young Attila correctly identifies the Huns' sacred animals as the wolverine, the she-bear and the horse. Later, his court is depicted in line with the description by the historian Priscus, who saw it with his own eyes. Granted, neither Gerard Butler as Attila, nor Steven Berkoff as his predecessor, King Rua, looks like he might have originated on the borders of China; then again, no one really knows what the Huns looked like, nor has proven conclusively where they came from.
Technology
Attila falls for a comely ginger slave-girl, and she for him. But his jealous elder brother, Bleda, takes her for his concubine. An irritating witch covered in mud and sticks offers the slave-girl a solution: "These seeds. Swallow one every day. They will keep little Bledas out of your womb." Now, just hold on a minute. The ginger slave-girl isn't real, but lots of historical films invent romances. The irritating witch isn't real, but Huns did have prophetic priests. But you can't just go around inventing birth control pills in the fifth century to fill a hole in your plot. Had easy, safe, reliable contraception existed for the last 1,600 years, the entire history of the world might have been different.
Romance
Attila strops off to Rome, which is full of hot babes stripping off at imaginatively depicted orgies. Enter Honoria, sister of the third Emperor Valentinian, clad in an improbable iridescent turquoise corset and matching skirt split from ankle to bikini line. She shows Attila her bath. He's totally freaked out. Later, he complains to an aide: "We conquer cities, we rule the world, and yet we can't even build a bath." Honoria is too polite to point out that this was no doubt obvious the minute he walked in the door, and – after a quick wash – seduces him. In real life, Attila never visited Rome, nor met Honoria. And he did have a bath. (He does eventually get one in the film, too.)
War
Honoria is discovered in bed with her chamberlain, Eugenius, with whom she is plotting to kill her brother. The emperor exiles her to a convent in Constantinople. To escape, Honoria secretly sends a ring to Attila, proposing marriage. He accepts and promptly invades the Roman Empire, half of which he claims as a dowry. Amazingly, this is pretty much what really happened. The chronology was different in real life, and the film misses out a few twists, including Honoria's forced betrothal to a senator. Still, it is basically justified in portraying fifth-century European history as a kind of high-velocity mash-up of Sunset Beach and Rambo. The truth is cracking stuff.
Battle
Finally, we get the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields – sometimes described as one of the most significant in history, despite its unclear outcome. It's even more of a muddle in the film, unless you already know your Visigoths from your Ostrogoths, and your Huns from your Alans. It was famously violent. Edward Gibbon quotes a death toll of between 162,000 and 300,000. The Roman historian Jordanes says a stream was swollen with the blood of the fallen, and "those whose wounds drove them to slake their parching thirst drank water mixed with gore". The film's budget isn't up to this, so we get some cheapo fireballs and two dozen extras lying around on a hillside, vaguely pretending to be dead.
Verdict
Attila gets a bit silly in places, but the research behind it is actually quite credible. Which is more than can be said for Gerard Butler's wig.
