by For my film to review, I decided to use a classic film that I went over during a class I took when pursuing my undergraduate degree at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. I have decided to use the movie Khartoum (1966), featuring Charlton Heston and Laurence Oliver, as my film to review for this blog post. The movie is based on the historical accounts of British General Charles “Chinese” Gordon’s defense of the British-controlled Sudanese city of Khartoum from the forces of the Mahdist army during the Siege of Khartoum from 1884–1885. The movie was directed by Basil Dearden and Eliot Elisofon; produced by Julian Blaustein, and narrated by Leo Genn. The link to the movie can be found here.
The theme of Khartoum revolves around two perspectives throughout the whole movie. The first and major theme is the British perspective of General Gordon’s defense of Anglo-Egyptian and Anglo-Sudanese interest in the region of Sudan. The second theme, as hidden as it is, focuses on the rise of the Mahdi and how the British failed in the country of Sudan. Both these themes are portrayed somewhat historically accurate, but also use there focal points to placate British imperialist history similarly to how Gone With the Wind (1939) puts a bias spin on American Reconstruction history. While many themes that played out were historically accurate, the biases displayed throughout the movie and the “blackfacing” of many characters highlight key discrepancies with historical accuracy and reliability.
Throughout the movie, there were two pivotal moments that addressed some of the major themes of the movie. The first scene revolves around General Gordon’s conversation with the former slaver Zobeir Pasha (00:33:56-00:38:28). Attempts to recruit him to the defense of Khartoum fails, where Zobeir cites the death of his son by Gordon’s hand and wishing for Gordon’s death in the desert. While Gordon was loved and respected in Britain and throughout parts of Sudan, there were many in the region that despised him and the British for their occupation of the region. The second pivotal moment came at the end, where Gordon embraces the final assault that occurs at his place of governance (02:06:10-02:13:00). While the Mahdists came and slew Gordon, they cut off his head and placed it on a pike and paraded it to the Mahdi, much to his dismay. This moment shows a contradiction between the beliefs of the Mahdi and the frustration the soldiers felt towards their British occupiers.
To conclude, when it comes to teaching and learning history using this film, I would use this film as a catalyst to discuss the discrepancies between historical accuracy and historical bias in historical cinema. I would introduce the film as a mix of historical accuracies and inaccuracies, focusing the lesson on finding such accuracies and discrepancies throughout the movie. There are several questions I would pose, mainly revolving around the British Empire, General Gordon, the Mahdi, and the people of Sudan. While there are questions I would love to ask the class, there are questions I would like the class to ask as well. Mainly, I would love to see my class ask questions revolving around the historicity and biases of the movie.
