Review of The Emperor's New Clothes (2001) by Aaron D — 07 Jun 2007

History tells us that the great Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France, was defeated during the battle of Waterloo. Following that defeat he was captured by the British and sent into exile on the isolated island St. Helena, where he lived out the remainder of his days writing his memoirs.

[i]The Emperors New Clothes [/i]is an entertaining attempt to pose a different scenario, with the idea that in fact Napoleon escaped from St. Helena. The story opens with Napoleon switching places with a look-alike commoner named Lenormand who has been working aboard a ship. The switch is made and Napoleon manages to escape on that ship.

Napoleons plan is to get in contact with some of his former allegiances and put himself in a position to regain his power. This plan depends heavily on Lenormand announcing that he is not the real Napoleon. Lenormand has different ideas. He becomes fond of the luxuries he is given by assuming Napoleons fame and decides he is not willing to reveal his true identity.

As the real Napoleon works his way back to France he realizes that much has changed in the years that he has been gone. While he experiences difficulties finding the contacts he is looking for, he is taken in by an recently widowed woman and her boy. Napoleon begins to accept that it may take longer than he had expected to regain his identity.

Napoleon soon finds himself leading some of the lower standing commoners to see that they can make a better way for themselves. He enacts a plan to sell the crop of fruits that they have been growing. At the same time he begins to fall for the woman who has taken him in.

The conclusion is somewhat predictable and a little empty of real emotion. This film is a fun look at what could have been, without getting too deep. I did find the movie to move along very slowly throughout first half.

Ian Holm (Bilbo; Lord of the Rings) turns in a solid performance acting as both Napoleon and Lenormand. The role of Napoleon is a familiar one to Holm, as he has played it twice before in his career. Iben Hjejle (High Fidelity) does a decent job playing the widowed woman who steals Napoleon's heart.

Don't go out of your way to find this movie, but if you find it on TV and have some free time, you may want to give it a chance.