“And now the women of Erahab will cut his bollocks off! HA~hahahahaha!”

Nathan recommended the book The Man Who Would Be King in the sidebar of the Argus (at least in the “Classic Registan” version), and in person when I visited him in Philly last month. I’m totally backlogged on books to read so I chose instead to see the film, which he also recommended.

It’s a good flick and a must-see for fellow Great Game enthusiasts. Two British adventurers head into Central Asia to the kingdom of Kafristan. They start out as gunrunners to a local warlord/king and command warriors in battle against a neighboring kingdom, but when one of the protagonists survives a direct arrow shot—which strikes his leather torso harness, stopping the otherwise penetrating wound—he is worshipped as the descendent of Alexander the Great and a God! I won’t ruin the ending, but it’s interesting to see how long his status as an invincible immortal lasts.

My only problem with the film is that it isn’t really based on the book with the same name. The Man Who Would Be King, which describes the probably true story of a Pennsylvania native who went to Afghanistan in the 19th century to become a king of a small state, is a stunning tale of a curious historical event. The movie takes the same theme but follows very few of the actual events. Even so, the film avoids the traditional approach to adventure films where heroes perform fantastic deeds leading up to a happy ending only found in movies. This film ends on a less optimistic note and contains a certain raw and human brutality. Disconcerting for adventurers at heart, but a good movie nonetheless.

And Kipling makes a cameo appearance!

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