I wondered if Washington-the-enslaver-of-people would make an appearance in the film. Not surprised. Angel et al like their heroes and saints to be uncomplicated by actual weaknesses and other glimpses of reality. Even with fully-human Jesus, they would blanch if you suggested that he ever belched, farted, or sneezed.
I will give Angel this: the handful of interactions between the white characters and black slaves are appropriately cold and awkward for the period. It would have been easy for them to fall back on a false unity—"we're all fighting for the same cause!" or something. But those scenes are few and far between. There are no significant black characters and even saying that slavery is touched very lightly would be a massive overstatement. The movie also doesn't address why more Indians allied with the French than the British, but that might have been inconvenient for the narrative.
I think you are wrong on this one. My two sons, 23 years old, and I loved this picture as it as not boring. The battle scenes were great. I think his upbringing and showing the reality of hereditary position were pretty telling. I also think the young man who played Washington did a great job in a notoriously hard part to play.
I wondered if Washington-the-enslaver-of-people would make an appearance in the film. Not surprised. Angel et al like their heroes and saints to be uncomplicated by actual weaknesses and other glimpses of reality. Even with fully-human Jesus, they would blanch if you suggested that he ever belched, farted, or sneezed.
I will give Angel this: the handful of interactions between the white characters and black slaves are appropriately cold and awkward for the period. It would have been easy for them to fall back on a false unity—"we're all fighting for the same cause!" or something. But those scenes are few and far between. There are no significant black characters and even saying that slavery is touched very lightly would be a massive overstatement. The movie also doesn't address why more Indians allied with the French than the British, but that might have been inconvenient for the narrative.
I think you are wrong on this one. My two sons, 23 years old, and I loved this picture as it as not boring. The battle scenes were great. I think his upbringing and showing the reality of hereditary position were pretty telling. I also think the young man who played Washington did a great job in a notoriously hard part to play.