What stories from history do you think would make for good films?

[B4851]

Also what stories from history that have been done that you think could be done better?

[NamerOfStars]

The flight of Abd-al Rahman Umayyad (whose name is not only spelled, but hyphenated in many different ways). After the prophet Muhammad (whose name is ALSO spelled in an annoying variety of ways; there REALLY should be a standardized system of transliteration by now) died, there were disputes over who should take over, and both the Sunni/Shia split and the forking off of the groups that would eventually become the Kharijites and the Ibadi had destabilized the empire (which was a secular as well as religious one), and the Rashidun caliphate had collapsed; the chaos ended with the Umayyads on top.

It didn't last. In 749 AD, the enemies of the Umayyads overthrew them; pretty much every level of society had many seriously disaffected members, and it was less a protracted war then a slaughter of the surviving Umayyad family line. At one point, several members were promised amnesty if they came to a metting in Jaffa; eight showed up, and were brutally slaughtered. Abd-al and a few of his sisters escaped the massacres, and fled the Middle East, across northern Africa to Spain, where he settled in among the people there, fleeing the only life and place he'd even known for an exile that would not only succeed wildly, but eventually allow his descendants to re-establish the Umayyad caliphate in Cordova (which they pronounced wrong, but the Spanish pronounce it wrong to this very day, so I don't blame them).

Maybe it's just because I'm essentially living in exile myself, but I can't help but relate, and feel it'd be an interesting story.

Another option: Saint Patrick. A young British (no, not English- British) man is abducted in a slave raid, and set to tend sheep on an Antrim hillside. He eventually receives a divine vision that rescue is coming, and a pirate ship arrives. He convinces them to take him with them, and eventually returns home- only to receive another vision, telling him to go back and preach the Gospel to the Irish. He does, and manages to introduce it peacefully (Ireland was Christianized almost without violence), and sets up a Church in a land that even the Romans never reached (Saint Palladius had TRIED, but failed miserably, ultimately since what he was selling was neither a Celtic faith nor a Jewish one, but a ROMAN one, and that really only works at swordpoint). The story's got everything: slavers, pirates, a giant herd of pigs, religious disputes, secular power struggles, priest vs druid fights, massive bonfires, philosophical battles... There's no romance angle (the man WAS a priest, but priests could marry back then), so Hollywood wouldn't touch it, but there's a wonderful movie waiting to be made there.

[exitseven]

There was an energy crisis in the 70s. People could not get gas for their cars and did all sorts of thing to get it. Some were pretty funny and some were crazy and a few were dangerous.

[B4851]

Though it's only slightly before my time, the OPEC energy crisis would be a good subject.

[exitseven]

Thanks for the MHO😎

[B4851]

You're welcome.