This is basicaly ''Le retour de Martin Guerre'' (1982)
Just saw this movie and it was a total rip-off (poorly done) of ''Le retour de Martin Guerre'' that was already remade as ''Sommersby'' in the nineties.
shareThere is a similar motif, yes, but a rip-off it isn't. The whole point of Martin Guerre is that the "real" husband returns, causing drama. No such thing in Robin Hood. A hero impersonating someone else as a means to hide and save his life is a motif that is not unique to Martin Guerre, and what makes it unique in Martin Guerre is not to be found in RH.One other huge difference is that in Martin Guerre, the whole storyline revolves around the assumed identity and its consequences, while in RH, it is just part of the plot, and rather a small part of it.
"Occasionally I'm callous and strange."
On the other hand, it is true that Ridley Scott's epics in the last 15 years or so have tended to be rag-bags of motifs and plotlines sliced from previous work and thrown into a stew pan. Gladiator' for example, consisted almost entirely of Spartacus and The Fall of the Roman Empire banged together.
shareHis work is definitely highly derivative, even to the point of generic sometimes; my issue was more with the use of "rip-off", which tends to be thrown around a lot, regardless of the actual meaning of the word. This movie bears one similarity to Martin Guerre, i.e the male lead impersonates a dead husband; it doesn't mean in any way that the whole movie is a cheap copy of Martin Guerre. The narrative differences heavily outweigh the similarities. And both the plot and the characters are reminiscent of many other things besides Martin Guerre.
"Occasionally I'm callous and strange."
Oh, sure. Quite apart from the whole point about Martin Guerre being that he was trying to deceive the whole community with his impersonation, whereas here his impersonation is undertaken at the request of the community. (It's not clear whether all the 'Pepperharrow' peasants are supposed to be in on the plot, but there's certainly a suspicious absence of anyone at all saying 'I remember Sir Robert being different'.)
shareIt has been a while since I watched Le retour de Martin Guerre, but if I'm correct the film is about the way in which the wife eventually accepts the man claiming to be her husband, knowing he isn't, because she has fallen in love with him, so everyone else in the village will then accept him. His long absence away at war simply explains her uncertainty at knowing if he is her husband.
You are right to say that it isn't technicaly a ''rip-off''. I was kind of bummed by RH and wrote my comment just after seeing it. I just felt like there was no original idea to the movie and was disapointed because I'd heard that it was an original take on the legend of RH when really it isn't. It's just a mashup of stories we already know poorly done. And the casting was AWFUL to me.
-Pardon my french.
And just about everything that is original is both tiresome and absurd, such as the entire notion of a stonemason social philosopher stirring up agitation for freedom and justice in the reign of Henry II - of all the reigns from 1066 to 1485 the least likely one to have anyone demanding more reforms and more justice!
shareYep, like recombinant DNA. But don't you think this tendency to fall back on the derivative ? ? on what's narratively tried-and-true ? ? is endemic to filmmaking in general now?
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