First of all, clocks like that were made in Europe in the late 13th century, early 14th century, so the clock we see in the movie is in a certain way an anachronism, but not a very big one. I mean, the story is set in 1212, not in 1212 B.C. :-)
Second, I watched the movie today and don't really understand what the commotion about Carolus is about. This is how I see it:
- they rescue the kidnapped kids
- Carolus gets wounded really bad, but he doesn't die. Maybe he looks dead, but even Rolf knows he is still alive, otherwise he wouldn't say: : 'He can not die.' (or something like that)
- Nicolas is very upset, one thing leads to another and Rolf gets arrested. Since it looks like Carolus can die any moment, Nicolas orders that as soon Carolus is dead and burried, Rolf will get what he deserves. Till that moment he is a prisoner. We see, however, that there's still some life in poor Carolus: he makes an effort to drink something.
- Then the crusade moves along, with Carolus being transported in some kind of cart and with Jenne at his side to look after him.
- When they make camp, Carolus is being taken care of in the main tent. Meanwhile, Dolf is still a prisoner. The evil father Anselmus, who never liked Dolf anyway, has not the patience to wait till Carolus is finally dead; he wants to kill Dolf right now- and he has his reasons for that.
- When it's dark, the mean helpers of Anselmus- whose names I absolutely don't remember- get the order to take care of Dolf. They untie him and throw him on the ground; they want to make it look like he was trying to escape, in which case they would have the right to kill him.
- Dolf is fighting back, without much effort, but then he gets help from friends who suddenly appear: Jenne and, yes, Carolus. He is obviously feeling better now. Although he doesn't look entirely recovered, my guess is that Jenne somehow knew that Dolf was going to need all the help he could get, so she must have persuaded the still weak (but strong enough to help) Carolus to come with her. Hey, Dolf once saved his life, so I think Carolus really wanted to help.
- Why the whole camp isn't celebrating the fact that Carolus is standing on his feet again? Well, it's late in the evening -it might even be night- so most of the children are asleep. I'm sure Dolf is very happy to see his friend again, but there isn't really much time to celebrate his recovery, since there is an evil conspiracy to unrafel. They immediately start to interrogate -if that's how you want to call it- one of Anselmus' helpers.
- I'm sure that the morning after lots of kids are surprised to see Carolus walk around again, but since this is the big day they have all been waiting for,
( Nicolas is going to lead them through the sea ), I think most of them have other things on their mind. We don't really see how they react on him, since the story takes us almost directly to Nicolas' Moses-act. And we know how that ends..
So, in my opinion, I don't think the makers of this movie made a huge mistake.
Maybe they could have explained some things better to avoid misunderstandings.
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filminfo
17 years ago
>Maybe they could have explained some things better to avoid misunderstandings
Only someone who wasn't watching at the screen would have missed all explanation that is already there.
- Carolus runs into a tree, and is left unconscious. Dolf takes him back to the camp;
- He lays down the body, which is still breathing, Dolf blames himself (but not for the dead, he speaks in future tense, worried that Carolus will not make it) and finds comfort with Jenna;
- Thaddeus arrives who treats Carolus, who is seen sitting upright;
- Nicholas arrives. Initially he cares for the condition of Carolus, but this changes, when he sees Dolf and Jenna kissing;
- Nicholas steps away from the body of Carolus and claims he is dead, and that Dolf is to blame. He is in fact spreading a rumor;
- Anselmus wants Dolf killed for heresy (having a big mouth) and Nicholas says that he will be killed after the funeral of Carolus;
- To clearly state that Carolus did in fact not die in the meantime, the audience sees how Thaddeus, away from the small crowd who heard Nicholas' rumor, requests a bowl of water and the non-dead Carolus drinks from the bowl;
- Nicholas takes Carolus to his camp, open for all to see, as a sick boy, not a dead boy.
Only a small amount of children, for a short time, believed that Carolus would not make it, or did not make it. So there is no reason why thousands of kids would react to Carolus being alive at the camp or on the beaches of Genua.
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