MovieChat Forums > The Wind and the Lion (1975) Discussion > Plz don't comment unless you know the di...

Plz don't comment unless you know the difference

posted 19 years ago by foton
16 replies | jump to latest

I never thought of starting a new topic as "I am not after any bebates of any kind, but I thought of posting this as to refer to some horrible mistakes that I read in a comment about the movie !

1) Most Westerns - sadly some educated of them - consider that ALL Moslems are Arabs and ALL Arabs are Moslems !!!! This is altogether WRONG WRONG WRONG
Arabs are people who live within the area that stretches from Morrco in the West to the WESTERN side of the Persian Gulf IRANIANS OR PERSIANS OR TURKISH....ETC ARE NOT ARABS!!! Arabs speak Arabic and that's what gives them their name .
2) On the other side other Moslem people like Turkish ,Pakistanis, Iranians .....etc maybe mostly Moslems but they are certainly NOT Arabs.
3) Unlike what most people think Arabs are over 300 Millions in population but they arn't all Moslems !!!! yes ,An Arab can be Christian ,Moslem or a Jew but he is still an Arab as he speaks Arabic and his ethnic group is Arab.

So please don't mix facts and comment on the film with the wrong geographical information.

4) the same person who wrote the comment said that the movie "was produced after a few years of the Iranian revolution "!!!!!!!! Does this person know what is he talking about????!!!! the Wind & the Lion was produced in 1975 SIX YEARS BEFORE THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION I wish he could read any book about 20th Century history before commenting or it just is enough to watch the News to know about the right time in which this revolution happened in Iran!

[–] dldutton 19 years ago

Though your objection is valid, your argument stumbles in it's first two words, "Most Westerns." (Setting aside the fact that a "western" is a book or film taking place in the American West -- like High Noon or Riders of the Purple Sage; what you may mean to say is "Westerner" -- a resident of the West.) It's your use of a generalization to combat another generalization that I find troubling. Address the individual, not the majority of the Western Hemisphere. You can't fight prejudice and ignorance with more of the same.

I think "most" people, of the East and West, would agree with me. That is my hope, at least.

[–] tcrizzo-1 19 years ago

I thought the movie itself indicated that the natives were Berbers and different from Arabs.

[–] ib011f9545i 19 years ago

Yes we know that not all arabs are moslems,it is true,and sad I think that more and more arabs are moslems because militant Islam is intolerant of arabs in places like the Lebanon and Palestine where there used to be a fair number of christian arabs.
It is not surprising that people get mixed up however,many pro islamic figures say that all the arabs agree with their interpretation of Islam,when in fact all arabs are not even muslims.

[–] billyfish 19 years ago

Isn't this thread supposed to be about The Wind and the Lion? What's all this talk about Arabs, Turks, Persians, etc.? First of all, the story is a fictionalized one, "inspired" by true events but certainly having very little truth in the story. There was no "Mrs. Perdicaris" to be kidnapped; however, there was a man named Ion Perdicaris who was kidnapped by Hamid el-Raisuli in 1904. Guess what? Perdicaris wasn't even a US citizen. And El-Raisuli was not an Arab -- he was a Berber. Big difference to you folks out there complaining about people not knowing the difference! Shame on you! Berbers had lived in north Africa for THOUSANDS of years before the Arabs ever ventured there. At any rate, TR rattled his saber, the Moroccan government caved and paid the ransom, and there was no invasion or bloodshed of any kind. So much for "based on a true story." Hollywood, as usual, hopelessly skews what few facts it may take from the true story, and simply makes up the rest. It is a good movie, though, as long as you realize it's pure fiction. I think Brian Keith and Sean Connery are excellent in their opposing roles.

By the way, you all -- "it's" is a contraction meaning "it is." Next time you go to put that apostrophe in there, use "it is" in its place and see if it works. Everyone should speak, read, and write at least one language fluently!

[–] razorbullitt 18 years ago

1979 - 1975 = 4 years, not six.

[–] pgregorjones 18 years ago

By the tone of the vehement and outspoken reactions to this film, it only means is is a good one. It's always good to expose what we know, what we think we know, what we think we don't know and what is the truth and what is celluloid,
The Jones

[–] vpilutis 17 years ago

i.e.

F Murray Abraham is both a Jew and an Arab.

Danny Thomas was both a Lebanese/Arab and a Christian

On the block where my wife and I lived from 1978 to 1982 there was a Moslem Arab, and a christian Arab store owners who were always feuding .

[–] angelosdaughter 12 years ago

I know this thread has not had a post in a very long time, but....

F. Murray Abraham is not Jewish. It's understandable because of his name that one might think so. I did until I looked up info on him.
He is Syrian and Italian.
See the following:

Abraham was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Josephine (née Stello), a housewife, and Fahrid Abraham, an auto mechanic.[1][2] His father was an Assyrian/Syriac Christian[3] who immigrated from Syria during the 1920s famine; his paternal grandfather was a chanter in the Syriac Orthodox Church.[1] His mother, one of 14 children, was Italian American, and the daughter of an immigrant who worked in the coal mines of Western Pennsylvania.

I looked up his bio because of his role of Salieri in "Amadeus". He seemed so Italian to me. (My father was, and I am pretty good at spotting Italians, and, yes, I know that some non-Italian actors can play Italians credibly.) I remember looking up info on Feodor Chaliapin, Jr. who played the old grandfather in "Moonstruck" because I thought he did the old Italian Papa so well, he had to be at least part Italian. It took some digging, but I learned that his mother had been an Italian ballerina.

[–] brucedgo 11 years ago

i.e.

As long as everyone's picking on things, here's another. You're giving examples here -- the correct "term" is "e.g.", not "i.e.". "i.e." means "that is."

... and the rocks it pummels.
- James Berardinelli

[–] vpilutis 11 years ago

cop a walk

See some stars here
http://www.vbphoto.biz/

[–] brucedgo 11 years ago

lol. I expected that. Some people just don't want to know.

... and the rocks it pummels.
- James Berardinelli

[–] vpilutis 11 years ago

did u now, so u think u know me? well u don't I just don't like to waste my time on fools like u.
See some stars here
http://www.vbphoto.biz/

[–] Captain_Augustus_McCrae 10 years ago

Spellcheck, pard. Just saying... And lose the texting abbreviations, please. You can't be taken seriously when you use them outside of a text. It's infantile.

"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's LIVING!"
Captain Augustus McCrae

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Captain_Augustus_McCrae 10 years ago

No, I'm the first to mention it.

"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's LIVING!"
Captain Augustus McCrae

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]