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Review: El Cid (1961)
I can see why this movie might have been popular at the time it was released. It has everything: politics, drama, fighting, good vs. evil struggles, character, growth, romance, and even a little bit of degeneracy. However, as I've been noticing in my film journey, Western historical movies just don't quite hold up because of the way they handle relationships between different ethnic groups. For a long epic historical movie, this was fine, but if you want to have a good time, don't look too closely at how people of different ethnicities are treated.
Spoilers.
Story
The story follows El Cid, a historical figure in Spanish history. It followed a few different story lines, one about internal kingdom politics, one about international politics with the Moors, and one about his personal relationships.
In the story line about internal kingdom politics, King Ferdinand had died and his three children struggled for power. In particular, the eldest son, Sancho, wanted all of the power for himself, when instead it had previously been set that each of the three children would govern a different part of the country. Alfonso and Urraca, the younger children were against Sancho's aggressive ways, and plotted to kill him, and gave the throne to Alfonso. El Cid forced Alfonso to swear on the Bible that he had no role in plotting his brother's death, and after he did, El Cid fought for him wholly and completely. He was kind of a bad king. Actually, he had been accused by Sancho of being too close with Urraca and having an incestuous relationship. And in the first years of his reign, he seemed mostly content with just chilling. But as El Cid fought harder and harder for him, he started to feel guilty because El Cid was doing all of this while he just sat in his throne room. That guilt seemed to drive him to be a more responsible person, and by the end of the movie, Alfonso was more involved in the country's politics.
The international politics plot was related to the fight with the Moors. At the beginning of the movie, El Cid had captured two Moorish Kings, but let them go instead of executing them. It was because of this that he was accused of treason. The kings swore their loyalty to El Cid, but only one of them remained loyal. The battles that took place later in the movie were against the forces led by that king who turned on El Cid.
El Cid's personal story line was his romance with Chimene, his betrothed. Due to El Cid being accused of treason, Chimene's father wanted to break things off between her and El Cid. And because El Cid was labelled a traitor, the father said some bad things about his family, which El Cid took offense to. El Cid wanted Chimene's father to apologize for the offense but he refused and they fought, resulting in El Cid killing Chimene's father. Afterwards, Chimene of course was not happy and swore that she would hate El Cid. Nonetheless, El Cid asked the King to have them marry anyway, as "penance" for killing her father. Later on, after El Cid was exiled for forcing the king to swear on the Bible, Chimene came back to him, and they basically lived happily ever after, even through war, and had twin girls.
The movie ended with El Cid leading the country's forces against the Moors even through his heavy injury.
Out of the three story lines, I preferred the one about internal politics, but I suspect it's because that's the kind of story I normally prefer. It was interesting see the siblings struggle, even if it was very simple. After Alfonso ascended, it was still interesting to see how much he was influenced by Urraca. I would have loved for the movie to explore Alfonso and Urraca's relationship more but that might have been too racy.
I was iffy about the international story line. First of all, the depiction of the Moors is probably...not okay? Second of all, I just hate the framing of Mutamin as "one of the good ones." It's such a typical Western framing of people from different ethnicities, and it's so patronizing, like Mutamin is a pet or something. Of course, Ben Yusuf was just shown as a total and utter degenerate who neglected his people.
The romance also had no appeal to me. When Rodrigo and Chimene first met, I thought their romance seemed a bit cringy, the way they just kind of smushed themselves against each other. I get it, it was just...weird to look at lol. Now, Rodrigo killing Chimene's dad was an interesting story line. A bit forced, because honour is handled a bit too simplistically in older Western movies imo, but whatever. The result was that Chimene had reason to hate Rodrigo because he killed her father. After all, at the beginning of the movie, she did say that she loved her father and her betrothed above all else. Upon her father's death, he asked her to avenge him as a son would. And from then on, even until after the marriage, Chimene decided that she would treat Rodrigo as a family enemy.
So how did she suddenly decide that she wanted to be Rodrigo's love again? I get it, she was probably in love with him the whole time. But then how would she reconcile that with her father's want for her to exact revenge, even if she believed that the betrayal was totally false? It was handwaved away wayyy too easily.
This entire movie was basically a hero fantasy for men. El Cid was the strongest man in the land who everybody either loved or hated but it didn't matter because he was the strongest boy, and he also had a love interest who would never abandon him even if he killed her father. Again, I get it, this was probably not that overdone at the time of this movie, but by now in 2022 it totally is DX
Production
The production value of this movie was very high. The costumes and set were all very elaborate. I liked the outside scenes the most, because we could see the castles and walls from a distance. That is something that is very difficult to do now because of how dense modern infrastructure and urban planning is.
The acting was okay...I think the actors just needed to be passable, and honestly, I didn't think Charlton Heston needed to be that good...
Also, I just generally have a problem with stories where characters are speaking in a language that they would not be speaking in. None of the characters should have been speaking to each other English.
Characters
Rodrigo Diaz of Vivar/El Cid
Our main dude, the hero. He had everything going on for him. He was a good fighter, he was noble, he was filial, and he was courageous. There was nothing complex or gray about him. And therefore nothing much that can be said about him.
Dona Chimene
Chimene was the main love interest. She was deeply in love with Rodrigo but was heartbroken by the death of her father, and in the interim had sworn to get revenge on him as she was requested to do by her father. She went so far as to plan with Garcia Ordonez, a man who was in love with her, to kill Rodrigo, but it didn't work.
Chimene reluctantly married Rodrigo, and the marriage was very cold. She even went to a convent at one point.
She had a change of heart when Rodrigo was banished and everything stripped of him. Then, she rejoined him, and they lived as newlyweds. As Rodrigo came and went from war, her love for him remained unbroken, and she stayed with him to his dying second.
Sancho
Sancho was the eldest son of King Ferdinand. He wanted to inherit the entire land as the eldest, and because of that he was a threat to Alfonso and Urraca. He was later killed upon plotting by Urraca.
Alfonso VI
After Sancho's death, Alfonso inherited the whole country (presumably Urraca yielded her land to him). At first, he was kind of a petulant kid about it. Of course he did not appreciate Rodrigo forcing him to swear that he had nothing to do with his brother's death. It was a move that made him look powerless in the face of a subject.
However, that seemed to be enough for Rodrigo to feel confidence in Alfonso's reign. Rodrigo had been exiled, and all of the fighting he did was on his own, but he did all of it in the name of Alfonso. Alfonso felt kind of threatened, that Rodrigo wanted something from him, while he just sat loftily on his throne.
It seemed to really get to Alfonso later, but in the good way. Alfonso started to understand what El Cid was doing for him, and I guess Alfonso wanted to become the kind of man that would be worthy of Rodrigo's loyalty like that.
Dona Urraca
Urraca was the princess, and perhaps the most cunning of the three children. At the beginning of the movie, I wondered of Urraca and Chimene were going to be at odds for Rodrigo's affection. I'm glad that that was not what happened. Though Urraca did seem a bit interested, it was unquestionable that Rodrigo loved only Chimene.
To protect Alfonso, Urraca arranged for Sancho to be killed. As mentioned, Sancho accused Alfonso and Urraca of having an inappropriate relationship. After Alfonso's coronation, it seemed like Urraca sort of had Alfonso under her thumb, in that she was able to manipulate him emotionally. She did, for the most part, until Alfonso started feeling haunted by all of these gifts that El Cid was giving him.
Nothing really became of Urraca by the end of the movie.
Garcia Ordonez
Garcia Ordonez was introduced to us as the man who accused Rodrigo of treason. He admitted to Chimene that there was nothing he couldn't do to win her love. So after Rodrigo killed Chimene's father, she asked him to kill Rodrigo. They planned for Garcia Ordonez to kill Rodrigo while on campaign but were unsuccessful.
Garcia Ordonez popped up again later after El Cid had become a famous leader. El Cid welcomed Garcia Ordonez into his army with open arms, which was indeed eye-roll inducing.
Al-Mutamin
Al-Mutamin was one of the Moorish Kings who was captured by Rodrigo but let go. In turn, he became an ally to Rodrigo against Ben Yusuf. Like I said, I sort of feel uncomfortable with this kind of portrayal of other ethnic groups in Western TV shows and movies.
Ben Yusuf
Ben Yusuf was the villain in the sense that the final battle was fought against his forces. Honestly there was nothing that stood out about him. Yeah, he was the big bad and he didn't care for his people. But I think El Cid was a character that overshadowed his struggles and battles that Ben Yusuf hardly felt like as big of an obstacle.
Overall
As an adventure/drama movie, this was fine. As I often say, it was just dated and the way certain things were handled just...aren't for me anymore, not in 2022. I might have enjoyed it when I was younger, but I've grown past some of the tropes.
Spoilers.
Story
The story follows El Cid, a historical figure in Spanish history. It followed a few different story lines, one about internal kingdom politics, one about international politics with the Moors, and one about his personal relationships.
In the story line about internal kingdom politics, King Ferdinand had died and his three children struggled for power. In particular, the eldest son, Sancho, wanted all of the power for himself, when instead it had previously been set that each of the three children would govern a different part of the country. Alfonso and Urraca, the younger children were against Sancho's aggressive ways, and plotted to kill him, and gave the throne to Alfonso. El Cid forced Alfonso to swear on the Bible that he had no role in plotting his brother's death, and after he did, El Cid fought for him wholly and completely. He was kind of a bad king. Actually, he had been accused by Sancho of being too close with Urraca and having an incestuous relationship. And in the first years of his reign, he seemed mostly content with just chilling. But as El Cid fought harder and harder for him, he started to feel guilty because El Cid was doing all of this while he just sat in his throne room. That guilt seemed to drive him to be a more responsible person, and by the end of the movie, Alfonso was more involved in the country's politics.
The international politics plot was related to the fight with the Moors. At the beginning of the movie, El Cid had captured two Moorish Kings, but let them go instead of executing them. It was because of this that he was accused of treason. The kings swore their loyalty to El Cid, but only one of them remained loyal. The battles that took place later in the movie were against the forces led by that king who turned on El Cid.
El Cid's personal story line was his romance with Chimene, his betrothed. Due to El Cid being accused of treason, Chimene's father wanted to break things off between her and El Cid. And because El Cid was labelled a traitor, the father said some bad things about his family, which El Cid took offense to. El Cid wanted Chimene's father to apologize for the offense but he refused and they fought, resulting in El Cid killing Chimene's father. Afterwards, Chimene of course was not happy and swore that she would hate El Cid. Nonetheless, El Cid asked the King to have them marry anyway, as "penance" for killing her father. Later on, after El Cid was exiled for forcing the king to swear on the Bible, Chimene came back to him, and they basically lived happily ever after, even through war, and had twin girls.
The movie ended with El Cid leading the country's forces against the Moors even through his heavy injury.
Out of the three story lines, I preferred the one about internal politics, but I suspect it's because that's the kind of story I normally prefer. It was interesting see the siblings struggle, even if it was very simple. After Alfonso ascended, it was still interesting to see how much he was influenced by Urraca. I would have loved for the movie to explore Alfonso and Urraca's relationship more but that might have been too racy.
I was iffy about the international story line. First of all, the depiction of the Moors is probably...not okay? Second of all, I just hate the framing of Mutamin as "one of the good ones." It's such a typical Western framing of people from different ethnicities, and it's so patronizing, like Mutamin is a pet or something. Of course, Ben Yusuf was just shown as a total and utter degenerate who neglected his people.
The romance also had no appeal to me. When Rodrigo and Chimene first met, I thought their romance seemed a bit cringy, the way they just kind of smushed themselves against each other. I get it, it was just...weird to look at lol. Now, Rodrigo killing Chimene's dad was an interesting story line. A bit forced, because honour is handled a bit too simplistically in older Western movies imo, but whatever. The result was that Chimene had reason to hate Rodrigo because he killed her father. After all, at the beginning of the movie, she did say that she loved her father and her betrothed above all else. Upon her father's death, he asked her to avenge him as a son would. And from then on, even until after the marriage, Chimene decided that she would treat Rodrigo as a family enemy.
So how did she suddenly decide that she wanted to be Rodrigo's love again? I get it, she was probably in love with him the whole time. But then how would she reconcile that with her father's want for her to exact revenge, even if she believed that the betrayal was totally false? It was handwaved away wayyy too easily.
This entire movie was basically a hero fantasy for men. El Cid was the strongest man in the land who everybody either loved or hated but it didn't matter because he was the strongest boy, and he also had a love interest who would never abandon him even if he killed her father. Again, I get it, this was probably not that overdone at the time of this movie, but by now in 2022 it totally is DX
Production
The production value of this movie was very high. The costumes and set were all very elaborate. I liked the outside scenes the most, because we could see the castles and walls from a distance. That is something that is very difficult to do now because of how dense modern infrastructure and urban planning is.
The acting was okay...I think the actors just needed to be passable, and honestly, I didn't think Charlton Heston needed to be that good...
Also, I just generally have a problem with stories where characters are speaking in a language that they would not be speaking in. None of the characters should have been speaking to each other English.
Characters
Rodrigo Diaz of Vivar/El Cid
Our main dude, the hero. He had everything going on for him. He was a good fighter, he was noble, he was filial, and he was courageous. There was nothing complex or gray about him. And therefore nothing much that can be said about him.
Dona Chimene
Chimene was the main love interest. She was deeply in love with Rodrigo but was heartbroken by the death of her father, and in the interim had sworn to get revenge on him as she was requested to do by her father. She went so far as to plan with Garcia Ordonez, a man who was in love with her, to kill Rodrigo, but it didn't work.
Chimene reluctantly married Rodrigo, and the marriage was very cold. She even went to a convent at one point.
She had a change of heart when Rodrigo was banished and everything stripped of him. Then, she rejoined him, and they lived as newlyweds. As Rodrigo came and went from war, her love for him remained unbroken, and she stayed with him to his dying second.
Sancho
Sancho was the eldest son of King Ferdinand. He wanted to inherit the entire land as the eldest, and because of that he was a threat to Alfonso and Urraca. He was later killed upon plotting by Urraca.
Alfonso VI
After Sancho's death, Alfonso inherited the whole country (presumably Urraca yielded her land to him). At first, he was kind of a petulant kid about it. Of course he did not appreciate Rodrigo forcing him to swear that he had nothing to do with his brother's death. It was a move that made him look powerless in the face of a subject.
However, that seemed to be enough for Rodrigo to feel confidence in Alfonso's reign. Rodrigo had been exiled, and all of the fighting he did was on his own, but he did all of it in the name of Alfonso. Alfonso felt kind of threatened, that Rodrigo wanted something from him, while he just sat loftily on his throne.
It seemed to really get to Alfonso later, but in the good way. Alfonso started to understand what El Cid was doing for him, and I guess Alfonso wanted to become the kind of man that would be worthy of Rodrigo's loyalty like that.
Dona Urraca
Urraca was the princess, and perhaps the most cunning of the three children. At the beginning of the movie, I wondered of Urraca and Chimene were going to be at odds for Rodrigo's affection. I'm glad that that was not what happened. Though Urraca did seem a bit interested, it was unquestionable that Rodrigo loved only Chimene.
To protect Alfonso, Urraca arranged for Sancho to be killed. As mentioned, Sancho accused Alfonso and Urraca of having an inappropriate relationship. After Alfonso's coronation, it seemed like Urraca sort of had Alfonso under her thumb, in that she was able to manipulate him emotionally. She did, for the most part, until Alfonso started feeling haunted by all of these gifts that El Cid was giving him.
Nothing really became of Urraca by the end of the movie.
Garcia Ordonez
Garcia Ordonez was introduced to us as the man who accused Rodrigo of treason. He admitted to Chimene that there was nothing he couldn't do to win her love. So after Rodrigo killed Chimene's father, she asked him to kill Rodrigo. They planned for Garcia Ordonez to kill Rodrigo while on campaign but were unsuccessful.
Garcia Ordonez popped up again later after El Cid had become a famous leader. El Cid welcomed Garcia Ordonez into his army with open arms, which was indeed eye-roll inducing.
Al-Mutamin
Al-Mutamin was one of the Moorish Kings who was captured by Rodrigo but let go. In turn, he became an ally to Rodrigo against Ben Yusuf. Like I said, I sort of feel uncomfortable with this kind of portrayal of other ethnic groups in Western TV shows and movies.
Ben Yusuf
Ben Yusuf was the villain in the sense that the final battle was fought against his forces. Honestly there was nothing that stood out about him. Yeah, he was the big bad and he didn't care for his people. But I think El Cid was a character that overshadowed his struggles and battles that Ben Yusuf hardly felt like as big of an obstacle.
Overall
As an adventure/drama movie, this was fine. As I often say, it was just dated and the way certain things were handled just...aren't for me anymore, not in 2022. I might have enjoyed it when I was younger, but I've grown past some of the tropes.