Corruption vs. Glory

I watched one of my favorite movies the other day—El Cid (1961), the story of Spain's Medieval hero and defender against Muslim invasion from North Africa. One thing in particular stood out this time, something I hadn't noticed before, and that was the sharp distinction in the film's depiction of the militant Islamic forces and the Christian armies.

When the forces of Ben Yussuf are arrayed outside Valencia, we're given long shots of both the Islamic soldiers and their siege towers. The soldiers wear mostly black, carry strange shields of zebra skins and weird symbols, and march to the ominous sound of huge drums. Their siege towers are decorated with horned animal skulls, their spears are adorned with black feathers, and their are thousands upon thousands of them. They carry black flags.

The Christian knights ride white horses. They are dressed in white and red and gold, they carry dozens of brightly colored pennants and banners, their shields are gold and red. The Cid himself is the brightest of all, mounted on a white horse, wearing white and blue and silver, the sun breaking on his silver shield in every direction. Before they go into battle, they pray and are blessed by a priest.

Obviously, viewers are supposed to understand that Ben Yussuf's armies are the bad guys, and that the forces of El Cid and King Alfonso are good. We're also supposed to get a sense of Medieval morality, that there isn't a blurred no man's land between what is right and what is evil, but rather a sharp distinction and clear sides.

If that was all, El Cid would simply end up being another action movie, an adventure film set in the Middle Ages but that could be easily transposed onto any time period. I think the real message of the representation of the two armies goes much deeper, and that it shows not simply the difference between good and evil, but the nature of pagan warfare vs. Christian warfare.

Ben Yussuf's heathen armies attempt to strike fear in their enemies using that which they fear most: Death. They dress in black, they wave frightening shields, they mount skulls everywhere. They fear death because they have no real hope of salvation when it comes, and they expect their enemies to share this same fear.

The Christian armies, on the other hand, fear God, and therefore they awe their enemies, not with depictions and displays of death, but with portrayals of glory. Christians have nothing to fear in death, for it is our final sanctification. We fear God, the King of Creation, and we attempt to spread that fear wherever we go, not merely to terrify, but to reveal and to convert.

In history, El Cid Rodrigo de Bivar was a Christian knight dedicated to purity, chastity, loyalty, and piety, the only true foundations for any true gallantry and honor. The only way a man can live by these things is to fear God, not death, and yet to live as though death might overtake him at any moment. Anthony Mann's beautiful film ably depicts this, and for that we can be glad.