Mostly about a Movie, but yeah, I'm still in Florence and its pretty awesome

Looking back on my last blog, I really don't feel like I did Rome justice. There was so much more to that beautiful place than words could have ever captured. I was also floating so I neglected to mention any bad parts other than being worn out from all the walking and the seeing. I could never live there and I'm glad I decided to study in Florence. But visiting there was incredible and I wish I had had more time.

Last night was the weekly cinema club and this movie was not nearly as messed up as the last one. It had its moments though. The movie was titled I Cacalieri che fecero l'impresa and I rather enjoyed it. The movie follows five French knights who journey to Thebes in Greece to recover the Shroud of Turin where it has been hidden by another French nobleman to be used in arcane rites for nefarious purposes. The movie takes place in 1271 ad right after the death of a particularily pious French king in the Holy Land. Back in England, a young knight (I WAS SO RIGHT! This knight is played by the same actor who was the young John Conner in Terminator 2. Boo yeah.) is entrusted with a letter revealing the location of the Shroud with instructions to give it to the King. He meets up with another knight (2) who is traveling back from the Holy Land with the king's body after tangling with a barbaric knight (3) who almost kills him and steals the letter. The two confront the other knight but then join forces with him and his friend (4). These knights are accompianied by a blacksmith (knight 5) who has been possesed by the devil. The five travel to Greece having a lot of adventures along the way. 5 is exorcised and made a knight after rescuing the others during one such adventure. They recover the Shroud and head back to France to give it to the king's successor. However as they are about to hand over the Shroud the evil nobleman rides up. The knights refuse to give the Shroud and head back into the forrest, where they realize they will be hunted. The give the Shroud to the representative and send a priest to talk to the king hoping to save their lives by giving the Shroud. But it does not work and the five knights face the entire French army, commanded by the nefarious nobleman.

four of the five knights: little boy knight, 2, 3, and 4

SPOILER: They all die. Even the one played by John Connor which was sad because he looked like he was twelve. I called him the "little boy knight" in my head. Even though he looked so young he was also, in a way, the leader because he was the highest ranking.

Despite the sad and somewhat unclear ending-- I'm not sure if the Shroud made it into the hands of the new king or not. I don't think it did because the preist is talking to the dead pious king and mentions he can only tell the names of the knights to him-- I liked the movie. It was based in Middle Aged Christianity, and quite historically accurate, but it wasn't a religous film. The battle scenes got quite graphic. For example, in one scene a man's stomach is sliced open and his intestines spill out. A dog climbs onto his lap and eats. There is a lot of spurting blood and, in one scene, a nose is chopped off. The director is not squeamish at all so don't see this movie if you are sensitive (like the girl next to me who had to keep hiding her eyes during every battle scene). Its very bromantic-- the final battle is preceded by a decleration of the love the knights have for eachother. Which, as we know, in movieland translates into "we're gonna die soon" because in any movie, just when any males express their feelings one or both of them are going to die. At least this is what my aunt says and so far its held true.

The movie is based on a book by Pupi Avati who is also the director. If you want to watch it, good luck, because I don't believe its popular in the U.S. but it might be easier to find the novel.

Today, while completely unproductive, has been a good day. I wandered for a while in a different direction just to see what was there. Nothing too crazy, though I did find a small child's shoe just chilling along the side of the road. The weather was just too lovely to stay inside.