Post by feihu on Jan 14, 2014 17:24:57 GMT -5
Now that I am well into "Shin Don" as well as "Empress Ki" I can see clearly the division of opinion that I hear. Was Empress Ki one of the good ones or one of the evil ones? There are people on both sides of the issue and both sides point to history as their ally and proof. But history changes both by the writers of it as well as by the country they are citizens of. So history often a "false friend" set to lead us down a path that is muddy and rutted. Of course, we can say, "Well this was some 700 years ago and much of the facts are covered with the dust of time or just lost." There is lots of logic there but it doesn't take 700 years to create hero or villian of an historic figure. It can be accomplished in almost the blink of an eye.
Here are two cases in point. First that of the Brazilian bandit, Virgolino Ferriera da Silva or as he was known by his nickname, "Lampiao". He roamed the arid area of Northeastern Brazil known as "The Congasso". There have been numerous films and TV dramas (almost one a year for a time) about this man who is in the eyes of some a Robin Hood figure and to other a ruthless and cruel bandit who killed maimed and tortured people for personal gains. There is evidence on both sides to prove each argument. The truth is....well who knows, lost in time or buried in the sands of the Congasso. No one really knows and all this happened just 75 years ago. Yet he is as polemic a figure as Robin Hood himself who dates back almost 1000 years ago. The only data in English is one thin volume available from Powell's Books:
Chandler, Billy Jaynes (1978). The Bandit King: Lampião of Brazil. Texas A&M University Press.
The second case is that of the last Sicilian mountain bandit, Salvatore Giuliano "Turridu". Another polemic figure. Was he a simple bandit no different from the Mafioso from the streets of Palermo or was he the great hero who tried to liberate Sicily from both the criminal element and the yoke of Rome. We will probably never know. Again history has become so muddled on this figure that it is hard to separate facts and legend or truth and lies. He was killed under extremely dubious circumstances that involved the Italian police and criminal figures. Many of his supporters today feel like his death was staged by the authorities and the Mafiosi. They think he was killed elsewhere and then taken to another place so it would look like he died in a shoot-out. He was very pro-American and even wrote to President Truman asking that Sicily continued under American rule. Ironically he was killed on July 4th, 1950. Some feel that more facts wil be revealed in 2016 when certain anti-Mafia files are released
To know more about Giuliano there are a few more books in English, a book written by his sister "My Brother Salvatore Giuliano: The True Story."
"The Sicilian" by Mario Puzo of Godfather fame. Michael Cimino made a move of this book by the same title available on Nextflix and some places on the Internet.
And this book by the same author as the book on Lampiao,
Chandler, Billy Jaynes, King of the Mountain, Northern Illinois University Press.
In the final analysis history is at best, only partially reliable. To paraphrase a common saying, " Truth is in the eye of the beholder" and nothing more.
Here are two cases in point. First that of the Brazilian bandit, Virgolino Ferriera da Silva or as he was known by his nickname, "Lampiao". He roamed the arid area of Northeastern Brazil known as "The Congasso". There have been numerous films and TV dramas (almost one a year for a time) about this man who is in the eyes of some a Robin Hood figure and to other a ruthless and cruel bandit who killed maimed and tortured people for personal gains. There is evidence on both sides to prove each argument. The truth is....well who knows, lost in time or buried in the sands of the Congasso. No one really knows and all this happened just 75 years ago. Yet he is as polemic a figure as Robin Hood himself who dates back almost 1000 years ago. The only data in English is one thin volume available from Powell's Books:
Chandler, Billy Jaynes (1978). The Bandit King: Lampião of Brazil. Texas A&M University Press.
The second case is that of the last Sicilian mountain bandit, Salvatore Giuliano "Turridu". Another polemic figure. Was he a simple bandit no different from the Mafioso from the streets of Palermo or was he the great hero who tried to liberate Sicily from both the criminal element and the yoke of Rome. We will probably never know. Again history has become so muddled on this figure that it is hard to separate facts and legend or truth and lies. He was killed under extremely dubious circumstances that involved the Italian police and criminal figures. Many of his supporters today feel like his death was staged by the authorities and the Mafiosi. They think he was killed elsewhere and then taken to another place so it would look like he died in a shoot-out. He was very pro-American and even wrote to President Truman asking that Sicily continued under American rule. Ironically he was killed on July 4th, 1950. Some feel that more facts wil be revealed in 2016 when certain anti-Mafia files are released
To know more about Giuliano there are a few more books in English, a book written by his sister "My Brother Salvatore Giuliano: The True Story."
"The Sicilian" by Mario Puzo of Godfather fame. Michael Cimino made a move of this book by the same title available on Nextflix and some places on the Internet.
And this book by the same author as the book on Lampiao,
Chandler, Billy Jaynes, King of the Mountain, Northern Illinois University Press.
In the final analysis history is at best, only partially reliable. To paraphrase a common saying, " Truth is in the eye of the beholder" and nothing more.
