- The epic event of the year comes to DVD in the mini-series EMPIRE. Complete with unrated and extended scenes, EMPIRE is presented for the first time as a seamless feature. The Roman Empire is plunged into chaos when Julius Caesar is assassinated and his power is passed on to his 18-year-old nephew Octavius. With his guardian, former gladiator Tyrannus, Octavius is forced into exile to escape those
Imperialism as we knew it may be no more, but Empire is alive and well. It is, as Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri demonstrate in this bold work, the new political order of globalization. It is easy to recognize the contemporary economic, cultural, and legal transformations taking place across the globe but difficult to understand them. Hardt and Negri contend that they should be seen in line with our historical understanding of Empire as a universal order that accepts no boundaries or limits. T! heir book shows how this emerging Empire is fundamentally different from the imperialism of European dominance and capitalist expansion in previous eras. Rather, today's Empire draws on elements of U.S. constitutionalism, with its tradition of hybrid identities and expanding frontiers.
Empire identifies a radical shift in concepts that form the philosophical basis of modern politics, concepts such as sovereignty, nation, and people. Hardt and Negri link this philosophical transformation to cultural and economic changes in postmodern society--to new forms of racism, new conceptions of identity and difference, new networks of communication and control, and new paths of migration. They also show how the power of transnational corporations and the increasing predominance of postindustrial forms of labor and production help to define the new imperial global order.
More than analysis, Empire is also an unabashedly utopian work of political philos! ophy, a new Communist Manifesto. Looking beyond the reg! imes of exploitation and control that characterize today's world order, it seeks an alternative political paradigm--the basis for a truly democratic global society.
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Empire is a sweeping book with a big-picture vision. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri argue that while classical imperialism has largely disappeared, a new empire is emerging in a diffuse blend of technology, economics, and globalization. The book brings together unlikely bedfellows: Hardt, associate professor in Duke University's literature program, and Negri, among other things a writer and inmate at Rebibbia Prison in Rome.
Empire aspires to the same scale of grand political philosophy as Locke or Marx or Fukuyama, but whether Hardt and Negri accomplish this daunting task is debatable. It is, however, an exciting book that is especially timely following the emergence of terrorism as a geopolitical force.
Hardt and Negri maintain that empire--traditionally understood as military or ca! pitalist might--has embarked upon a new stage of historical development and is now better understood as a complex web of sociopolitical forces. They argue, with a neo-Marxist bent, that "the multitude" will transcend and defeat the new empire on its own terms. The authors address everything from the works of Deleuze to Jefferson's constitutional democracy to the Chiapas revolution in a far-ranging analysis of our contemporary situation. Unfortunately, their penchant for references and academese sometimes renders the prose unwieldy. But if Hardt and Negri's vision of the world materializes, they will undoubtedly be remembered as prophetic. --Eric de Place EMPIRE - DVD MovieIn the tradition of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a stunningly vivid historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West, centering on Quanah, the greatest Comanche chief of them all.
S. C. Gwynne’! s Empire of the Summer Moon spans tw! o astoni shing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.
Although readers may be more familiar with the tribal names Apache and Sioux, it was in fact the legendary fighting ability of the Comanches that determined just how and when the American West opened up. Comanche boys became adept bareback riders by age six; full Comanche braves were considered the best horsemen who ever rode. They were so masterful at war and so skillful with their arrows and lances that they stopped the northern drive of colonial Spain from Mexico and halted the French expansion westward from Louisiana. White settlers arriving in Texas from the eastern United States were surprised to find the frontier! being rolled backward by Comanches incensed by the invasion of their tribal lands. So effective were the Comanches that they forced the creation of the Texas Rangers and account for the advent of the new weapon specifically designed to fight them: the six-gun.
The war with the Comanches lasted four decades, in effect holding up the development of the new American nation. Gwynne’s exhilarating account delivers a sweeping narrative that encompasses Spanish colonialism, the Civil War, the destruction of the buffalo herds, and the arrival of the railroadsâ€"a historical feast for anyone interested in how the United States came into being.
Against this backdrop Gwynne presents the compelling drama of Cynthia Ann Parker, a lovely nine-year-old girl with cornflower-blue eyes who was kidnapped by Comanches from the far Texas frontier in 1836. She grew to love her captors and became infamous as the "White Squaw" who refused to return until her tragic capt! ure by Texas Rangers in 1860. More famous still was her son Qu! anah, a warrior who was never defeated and whose guerrilla wars in the Texas Panhandle made him a legend.
S. C. Gwynne’s account of these events is meticulously researched, intellectually provocative, and, above all, thrillingly told. Empire of the Summer Moon announces him as a major new writer of American history.
The epic event of the year comes to DVD in the mini-series EMPIRE. Complete with unrated and extended scenes, EMPIRE is presented for the first time as a seamless feature. The Roman Empire is plunged into chaos when Julius Caesar is assassinated and his power is passed on to his 18-year-old nephew Octavius. With his guardian, former gladiator Tyrannus, Octavius is forced into exile to escape those who wish to sever Caesar's bloodline permanently. Under Tyrannus' tutelage, Octavius prepares to face off against the treacherous Marc Antony and fulfill his destiny as the leader of Rome. EMPIRE boasts "powerful acting," says the Wall Street Journal, with! a hot young cast that includes James Frain (24), Colm Feore, Jonathan Cake, Santiago Cabrera, and Emily Blunt. Filmed entirely in scenic Italy, EMPIRE tells the thrilling story of a hero's rise amidst the greed, intrigue, and lust of ancient Rome.~The lavishly produced six-hour mini-series
Empire aspires to capture the flavor and grandeur of Rome--or, failing that, the flavor and grandeur of
Gladiator, a highly successful movie
about Rome. Most writers, including Shakespeare, use the assassination of Julius Caesar as a climax;
Empire opens with it, then follows a fictional gladiator named Tyrranus (Jonathan Cake,
Inconceivable) as he protects and substitute-parents Caesar's nephew Octavius (Santiago Cabrera,
Love and Other Disasters), fated to be emperor of Rome. Many have complained about how
Empire plays fast and loose--very, very loose--with historical truth (the series labored over accurate details while running amok wit! h preposterous turns of plot, ranging from Octavius hiding out! in a gl adiatorial prison to the emperor-to-be's romance with a rosy-lipped vestal virgin). Of course, Shakespeare did his own embellishing and it worked out fine; alas, the writers of
Empire are not our modern Shakespeares. The machinations of Rome play out with cheesy speeches and cornball declamations; even a powerhouse actress like Fiona Shaw (
Empire obeys the Hollywood rule that hot-tempered Romans must only be played by emotionally repressed Brits) can't inject fire into this pompous, ponderous dialogue. The scheming between Octavius and Marc Anthony (Vincent Regan,
Unleashed) briefly harkens back to the genuinely thrilling duplicities of
I, Claudius, but only briefly. Cabrera looks like he'd be more comfortable with the machinations of
The O.C.; Cake musters some dignity but in the last few hours does little but grimace, as if wondering where he'd parked his car. The dvd release has reintegrated some unrated, unaired scenes, but don't get yo! ur hopes up. The gladiatorial combat has all the finesse and suspense of locker room buddies snapping towels at each other; the lone orgy scene works hard at fleshpottiness, but nothing kills decadence like effort. There are only two extra features: A typically self-lauding making-of doc, accompanied by a demonstration of how Rome was assembled in a computer.
--Bret Fetzer
