What historical events or people would make a good film?

I don't know...a hypocritical hero would be a more interesting theme for a movie than a straightforward one, as long as the film makers are ballsy enough to show the shadow with the light.

Arguably, the fact that Rabe was a Nazi has the potential to give the movie a more optimistic tone — even someone in the most vile groups has the potential for kindness and heroism when the chips are down.

Has anyone here seen the John Rabe film? How does it handle his character?

Apparently there was a lot of controversy over its showing in Japan

I mean, the way to do a proper film about the Peloponnesian War would be to make two films: one film focus on Pericles and the early war and one focus on Alcibiades or Lysander and the later war.

edited 19th Aug '15 9:50:40 PM by CrimsonZephyr

• Not just Alexander The Great, but the aftermath of his death that puts A Game Of Thrones to shame: the Diadochi.
• Sanada Masayuki: Considered one of the greatest strategists of the Sengoku era and the father of the greatest hero of the Sengoku era. He was a true underdog, a minor daimyo whose territory was not in an advantageous position and instead of making power grabs like the bigger daimyo, everything he did was to ensure his clan's survival during a turbulent era, and he succeeded while other clans and daimyo made power plays, failed, and were cut off. Unlike his son Nobushige/Yukimura whose claim to fame occurred at the very end of the Sengoku era, he was active during the entire climax of the era, from the Kanto three and Oda Nobunaga's rise to the Battle of Sekigahara.

edited 21st Aug '15 7:35:07 PM by shiro_okami

If you're going to make a movie from the Sengoku Period, might as well go with the 'Samurai Saint'.

edited 21st Aug '15 8:18:30 PM by entropy13

A TV miniseries on the life of English king Edward I "Longshanks" and the "Hammer of Scots" alongside his wife Eleanor of Castile - what you see in Braveheart really doesn't do this badass couple justice.

I'd like to give my full support to a hypothetical Dom Justo Takayama movie. I'd say the hardest thing about it would be getting The Takayama's shifting allegiances without simplifying it. But I feel a lot of his life has potential for a great cinematic showing (like Dom Justo receiving a letter from Tokugawa Ileyasu stating he has to abandon his faith or his titles, and Justo just grimly loking over and promptly abandoning his castle and wealth with nothing but his clothes on his back)

edited 21st Aug '15 9:33:13 PM by Gaon

There's even a big "What if"...what if he accepted the Spanish offer? Conquistadors in Japan it is...

The murder of Wiilliam Desmond Taylor.

Of course, you'd have to find an actress sexy enough to play Mabel Normand, which might be a tough call.

Ogodei Khan.

On the topic of Japan, maybe a sort of "13th Warrior" style story about Yasuke?

Yasuke has the advantage of history having no record of his eventual fate, as the last mention of him was being handed over to a Japonese monastery. So the writers would be free create whatever fate they prefer to him (goes back to Africa to live with his tribe, settles down in Japan, goes to the Phillipines, is assassinated, e.t.c).

Another thought- William Dampier, pirate, explorer, and scientist.

Dampier is pretty interesting, but in my opinion he's outmatched by his contemporary (and business partner) Woodes Rogers, the man who nearly single-handedly destroyed piracy in the Caribbean. He attacked Nassau (the pirate HQ in the caribbean), issued pardons to whose who would join him and death warrants to those who didn't, went about reestructuring the society of Nassau, reconstructing the city's defenses, and alongside Ben Hornigold (one of the founders of Nassau who had a Heel–Face Turn of sorts) hunted down pirates and then had a showdown against the Spanish who sought to reclaim the island.

There's also the face he was facially disfigured (having a massive scar on the right side of his face) and a limp of one leg during all of this.

Bonus points: He acquired that facial scar when he was shot in the face by a spanish soldier during the War of Spanish Succession. The bullet lodged into his jaw, but he kept commanding the battle via written notes (as he couldn't talk due having a bullet in his jaw) while lying on a pool of his own blood.

So it's all pretty dramatic.

Wow. Cool guy.

I kind of think it depends on what kind of movie. Like Dampier probably lends himself to something more subdued and focused on discovery- along the lines of Master and Commander, or else an adventure story about his privateering and interactions with different cultures.

I don't think Dampier is the best choice for a bloody action movie- he'd probably be a secondary character in that kind of thing.

Edit- There's one incident in Dampier's life I'd love to see because of the Stereotype Flip of Captured by Cannibals (along with an unusual case of Chased by Angry Natives). So, at one point in Dampier's travels (IIRC in Thailand), he saw a big procession in the town square and meat cooking on a grill. It smelled good, so he took some off and ate it. Immediately, everyone in the process got really angry and started chasing him.

Turns out that the procession was a funeral, the grill was a funeral pyre, and the meat...

Edit2- Incidentally (not sure if related the above), Dampier thought that the idea of any "natives" being cannibals was probably an urban legend

edited 23rd Aug '15 4:33:35 PM by Hodor2

The French admiral Louis Antoine de Bougainville ought to have his own film or TV series - not only did he circumnavigate the globe in a scientific expedition, oversee the first recorded settlement on the Falkland Islands, and lead numerous voyages into the Pacific Ocean, but he served as a right hand to first Montcalm throughout the French & Indian War, and later Comte de Grasse in the French Navy's critical role in securing US independence at Chesapeake Bay.

Has their been a film adaptaion of the Winter War? The politics would be interesting, since none of the allies came to help Finland since they were focused on Germany, and Russia was still "neutral" at that point, even though the deal they made with Germany to divide the land between them is what led to the war

edited 23rd Aug '15 6:28:25 PM by Xopher001

See here.

"Has their been a film adaptaion of the Winter War?"

Well, not a film adaptation, but...

There Shall Be No Night

Text of the play is in the public domain.

From the link I provided above, there was this, btw (even if it doesn't delve into the geopolitics and diplomatic situations).

edited 23rd Aug '15 8:33:11 PM by Quag15

Ludwig II of Bavaria and his chronic obession with building bitchin' castles would make for an interesting watch.

edited 28th Aug '15 11:45:23 AM by nervmeister

Well, I'll have to resurrect this because it just came to my attention that Aristotle had a very interesting life, which I'd like to see in a movie:

He was born in Stagira (a city that was located in Greek Macedonia), and after his father died during his childhood, he eventually moved to Athens as an 18-years-old to study in Plato's Academy, having to deal with Greek prejudice against foreigners. Years later, Philip II of Macedon destroyed his hometown, and asked Aristotle to educate his son, Alexander. He accepted, on the condition that Philip rebuilt his hometown. Eventually, Aristotle would return to Athens, where he would open the Lyceum and write most of his works. Some time after Alexander's death, Greek racism against Macedonians would rekindle, and Aristotle would leave Athens again, on the grounds that "[He] will not allow the Athenians to sin twice against philosophy" (referring to the execution of Socrates). And he died later the same year.

In essence, I see a movie about Aristotle being portrayed as the story of an immigrant dealing with prejudice to eventually become one of the most influential people in the land he migrated to. And it could be an interesting way to explore how "western civilization" has dealt historically with other cultures, appropriating their successes (with how influential Aristotle is in philosophy), shunning them (the anti-Macedonian racism Aristotle experienced in Athens), oppressing and conquering them (with scenes that follow Alexander's conquests) and assimilating them (how the ancient Macedonians went from barely better than barbarians to being just as Greek as any Athenian).

Aristotle made too many mess-ups to be glorified in a movie, IMO.

A movie about him doesn't need to glorify him. Screw-ups and personal flaws can be interesting too (see. J Edgar).