Not Goofs!

I take exception with the two items shown as 'Goofs' on the Goofs page for this movie.
1. (Anachronisms) First, it is irrelevant what system of measurement was being used in the 1500s, the movie was made for a modern European audience which is familiar with the metric system, which everyone knows and can relate to. If they had used the archaic system of measurement actually used at that time, it would have confused or mystified the audience. I quote:
"Before the metric system, the French unit of length was the toise, which is about 1949 mm. The toise was divided into 6 Paris feet, each of which was divided into 12 pouces, that were further subdivided into 12 lignes. The use of 'Paris' to modify the foot suggests that there were other feet, and there were. Differences between units of the same name at different locations were common in France, and the leading stimulus for the establishment of a uniform national system." - Professor J. B. Calvert, Ph.D, Associate Professor Emeritus of Engineering, University of Denver, Colorado.
Also, divining or dowsing rods as a method of discovering water underground have been in use for at least a millennium or more. They were first written about in the 15th Century (1400s) as a scientific means, although the people of that time did not understand the science of their method. In the late 16th Century (1500s) the Roman Catholic Church took it upon themselves to denounce this method as witchcraft or sorcery, and began to arrest people and burn them at the stake. Dowsing became one of the articles of sorcery forbidden by the Catholic Inquisition and was listed as an article for extreme punishment as late as 1701.

2. (Factual Errors) The Nazi Swastika is shown in one scene, as Nostradamus paints it large in red on a wall for his friend Dr. Scalinger. Someone suggested this is a factual error since the swastika is an ancient symbol, yet in the context of the film and history, it is not. Nostradamus wrote in one of his notebooks about having a vision of future warfare in Europe in which he saw huge metal machines which moved along on wheels under their own power (tanks) and many banners with the Nazi swastika in red or black (he was seeing a vision of WW2 in the 1940s). He even drew the symbol as he saw it in red ink in one of his notebooks. So this is not a factual error, nor an error by the filmmakers, but actually makes a good case for Nostradamus' clairvoyance in accurately seeing the future many hundreds of years away.


Dejael