Sunday, April 10, 2011

Robin Hood to this day

The more time passes, the more it repeats. In Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, Maid Marian (Cate Blanchett) and the Sheriff of Nottingham (Matthew Macfadyen) have an exchange.

robin hood

Sheriff of Nottingham: Tell the old fool the next time I'll break his door down. And if he's too proud to pay what is due --


Maid Marian: No, no, no. He's not too proud. He's too poor. In the name of King Richard, you have stripped our wealth to pay for foreign adventures whilst at home the Church in the name of the Merciful God has reaped without mercy the larger share of what we have set aside to feed ourselves. Between the sheriff and the bishop, I wouldn't care to judge who's the greater curse on honest English folk.