Artistic Licence and Other Errors.

I was flicking through the TV channels the other day, and saw that one of them was showing El Cid – my ex-favourite film – so I thought I’d watch a few minutes of it for old time’s sake.

The scene I came in at was the one in which the Moorish army is riding along the seashore en route to take control of Valencia. Wave after wave of horsemen gallop past the static camera with the sea in the background, and above the sea is the kind of sunset sky you get shortly after the sun has gone down. They made a dramatic, stirring, and deliberately menacing sight, I can tell you, huddled up to the gunwales in Moorish attire and with cloaks billowing behind them in menacing silhouette.

But then I realised something. Valencia is on Spain’s east coast, and you don’t get sunset skies over the sea on the east coast of anywhere, do you? No, you don’t. But still, the billowing cloaks would have looked a damn sight less dramatic waving in silhouette against an eastern sky paler than a catwalk model first thing in the morning, wouldn’t they? They would, so let’s allow the director a bit of artistic licence, eh? Yes indeed.

But then there was another problem. Many of the riders were carrying burning brands, and since the city was undefended and merely to be occupied rather than attacked, the only reason for carrying burning brands would have been to light their way. Well, that didn’t make any sense, since at that point in early twilight there’s enough daylight left to make burning brands utterly ineffectual. But still, the burning brands did compliment the billowing cloaks rather nicely, so let’s allow the director a bit more artistic licence. Right, happy now.

No, hang on a minute. The riders reach the city where the gates are opened to them, and the scene has unaccountably changed to one of bright sunshine and deep shadows. More unaccountable still, the angles of the shadows on the walls leave no doubt that it’s very close to noon.

Ah… erm… that’s different. This is no longer a matter of artistic licence, but a Serious Continuity Error.

You wonder how directors expect to get away with it, don’t you? I suppose they assume that nobody will notice. And there’s an even more blatant Serious Continuity Error earlier in the film, but I can’t be bothered to type any more. Watch the film some time. You can’t miss it.