Agrega una trama en tu idiomaA young Christian boy attends a druid worship that is attacked by invading Irish tribes. Taken captive, he is taken back to Ireland to become a slave. Enduring many hardships, he finds comfo... Leer todoA young Christian boy attends a druid worship that is attacked by invading Irish tribes. Taken captive, he is taken back to Ireland to become a slave. Enduring many hardships, he finds comfort and eventually salvation in his faith. After several years, he escapes back to England,... Leer todoA young Christian boy attends a druid worship that is attacked by invading Irish tribes. Taken captive, he is taken back to Ireland to become a slave. Enduring many hardships, he finds comfort and eventually salvation in his faith. After several years, he escapes back to England, where he joins a convent to prove his faith. His greatest desire is to return to Ireland ... Leer todo
- Dirección
- Guionistas
- Todo el elenco y el equipo
- Producción, taquilla y más en IMDbPro
Opiniones destacadas
The next very bothersome inaccuracy is the blatant antagonizing view of the Druids at the time. In the beginning scenes during the Samhain festival the High Priest is heard praying to the "powers of darkness" as though he were praying to the Devil.
In truth, the "Gods of Darkness" are not evil aspects of their pantheon, but instead simply the deity of Autumn and Winter as a personification mirroring these seasons. The Druids were praying to a God closely related in aspect to Santa Claus, whom, before being indoctrinated into the Church as Saint Nicholas, was in fact, the Germanic/Pagan icon known as the Holly King.
Other issues were the depictions of animal sacrifice as somehow immoral. When, even in the Bible, Abel sacrifices his favored flock in praise of God. Animal offerings were common before Christ, and though lacking the "ceremony", existed even after Him.
Next is Human sacrifice depicted as frequently occurring, when this is confused with symbolic sacrifice. Had you known nothing of Catholicism, hearing of rituals where the flesh and blood of a man were imbibed, you would believe this to be atrocious cannibalism. In reality priests underwent a symbolic death personifying the daylight sun's departure. Bones discovered at holy sites were confused with human sacrifice simply by placement; the same could be concluded with this reasoning on bones in church yards.
Slavery now is an immense moral taboo, but back in that time was incredibly common and not as evil as the 19th century America's. Patrick being of Roman patronage would have had quite a few slaves, though they would be more conscript/peon then what we have come to consider slaves today. In reality, slaves of the time were any of the lower class that were indentured to a land owner and was provided protection, shelter, and food for labor. Without this in the harshness of the time period a person would surely perish; this should not be confused with the inhumane treatment and subjugation of slaves in later centuries.
As a fantasy or legend, the story is good, but just as the church is vilified so too are the aboriginal inhabitants of Ireland; just as a minority of Christians were bad and the majority, like Patrick, were good, the Druids should have been given the same treatment. It is debatable that Patrick's actions caused the civilization of Ireland to lose it's strength against invaders and subsequently open the door to centuries of new oppression, war and misery at the hands of outsiders.
As for all the magical delights, and scenery this movie is awesome. I'm always happy to see the fantasy genre grow and enthralled by it's connection to the Emerald Isles.
The historical truths of Patrick have been embellished like any Legend, but in turn the antagonists have as been exaggerated as well. It would have been nice to have seen two sides of the coin in regards to the Druids, and possibly less emphasis on them being barbarous and evil. They invented the first four walled room you know.
For instance, when Patrick, upon his return from slavery, asked his father for "a Bible", he was asking the impossible. There was no such thing available. The most he could have gotten would have been a bound book of the 150 Psalms, or maybe--since his father was, as depicted, a patrician landowner--a book containing the four Gospels. The story omitted any mention of the fact that Patrick's father was, himself, a deacon in the Church.
Further, there was no "arduous course of studies" for the priesthood, and people didn't have to travel to Gaul for training and ordination, though some, indeed, did. Training and ordination normally would have been undertaken by the local bishop.
Then, when Patrick said to Bp Quentin, "In Matthew, the 16th chapter, verses 19 and 20...", that, too, was impossible. The Bible wasn't divided into chapters and verses until the 17th century, by Archbishop Ussher. What Patrick *should* have said would be more like "Remember the words of Our Lord which we read in the Gospel for the 2nd Sunday in Lent..." Oh, and the grammar of the quoted Biblical passages--pronouns and verbs all mixed up? Homer Simpson does just about as well. (It's not hard to look something up and copy it out right.)
By the way, Patrick was far from ignorant of Latin, as portrayed in the scene with Bp Quentin. He wrote Latin poetry, and his autobiography (as partly read in a later scene) was written in fairly decent Latin.
Now--the vestments. It looked as if the producers had raided all of the costume shops in Lower Manhattan, and a few of the church sacristies, and tossed together whatever looked good to them--none of it the least bit authentic.
Bishop Quentin's getup was the worst--a modern Byzantine chasuble and a 15th-century Venetian Doge's cap. The copes worn by the other bishops and Patrick were of 18th-century design, which persisted down to fairly recently, when the flaps on the back began to be restored as proper hoods--and these were topped off in the film with 16th-century Canterbury caps! The white surplices worn by the messengers and acolytes and the white albs worn by the slaughtered flock of newly-baptized came right off the shelf of Guardian Church Goods on 7th Street. Pfui.
As I said, enjoyable enough, but it could have been way better if the producers had simply asked me!
Several miracles/legends are depicted by special effects that may seem out of place to some viewers, but they are all famous legends told about St. Patrick. (eg. his banishing of snakes from Ireland)
I bought some DVDs not locally available for rent this Christmas, and thought I'd list my three favorites for others who are looking for something other than the usual Hollywood fare. 1.St. Patrick the Irish Legend (I really liked it that much!) 2. Ushpizin (Award winning Israeli film with English subtitles) 3. The Way Home (Award winning Korean film with English subtitles)
¿Sabías que…?
- TriviaAlan Bates was first asked to play Bishop Quentin.
- ErroresSeveral of the companions of St. Patrick are shown wearing what is obviously a Franciscan habit. St. Francis of Assisi was not born until 1182 and did not gather an order around him until the 1200s, 800 years after St. Patrick.
- Citas
Calpornius: The years of slavery must have taken their toll. Now you must seize the day as it presents itself. Patrick, you're my only son, the priesthood is nothing but poverty and obedience, how can you chose that above a life of wealth, status, and opportunity?
Patrick: It's not my choice! Father, it's a calling I can hear. I keep having visions.
Calpornius: Visions? You let visions rule your life?
Patrick: It was a vision that led me home, I put my faith in it and here I am and now the visions are calling me back and I must put my trust in them.