"Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" is adapted from a video-game fantasy set in ancient history, but nonetheless, it contains a vital message for modern-day Americans on morality and politics. And how the two are not mutually exclusive. Really.
And while the lesson "Persia" teaches has been put into in action by Democrats Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, their political opponents have a history of too frequently forgetting it. From Reagan's day to modern day, Republicans' failure to advance their much-touted, conservative and freedom-loving principles demonstrates they need a refresher course … from a movie about Iran, of all places.
The film begins when the mighty king of ancient Persia (modern-day Iran) sees upon the streets of his empire an orphaned boy with the courage and character to stand up against swordsmen abusing another child. The king decides to adopt the daring young do-gooder, Dastan, to raise alongside his other two sons, making a trio of princes for Persia.
Fifteen years later, Dastan marches with an army led by his brothers to conquer lands rebellious against their father.
Along the sandy path, however, a spy tells the brothers the holy city Alamut has conspired against them. In a council of war, Dastan argues it unconscionable to sack the holy city, but when his eldest brother commands the attack, Dastan leads the charge.
Thus surrendering his stand of conscience, Dastan makes the fatal mistake that sets the movie's plot in motion. Upon hearing that Alamut was conquered, the king comes riding to scold his wayward sons, and to Dastan particularly, the monarch delivers a morality lesson that reverberates though "the sands of time" to touch even today's biggest moral and political issues.
Dastan's father commends him for being a "good" man. But the king also tells Dastan that when he saw the young boy standing up for others on the streets, he saw in that boy something more, the making of greatness.
Alluding to Dastan capitulating to his brother's command in sacking Alamut, the king explains, "A great man would have stopped what was wrong, no matter who was ordering it."
Are you listening, elected leaders?
As for the movie itself, it's video-game roots are showing: lots of fights and action scenes, loosely tied together by some mystical mumbo-jumbo about destiny and some blah-blah about gods and superheroes, yada-yada. Lead actor Jake Gyllenhaal's stunt double was on the screen more often than he was, and a good thing, too, for the script Dastan had to work with was cliché, forced and at times unintentionally, laughably bad. But the target audience will likely find all the action and eye candy enjoyable nonetheless and not care too much that "Persia" is a far, far cry from "Lawrence of Arabia."
The message, however, is reinforced several times as Dastan gets multiple lessons on doing right, as he later says, "regardless of the consequences."
When in the charge of an aggravating princess with a sharp tongue and even sharper dagger, Dastan is tempted to abandon the scheming shrew in the desert. In that moment, she appeals to "honor": Will he act like a typical, "thieving Persian," she asks, or will he be as a man what he was as a boy, a fearless defender of the innocent?
Again and again, Dastan's honor is tested by the plot, and each time he comes through. Finally, faced with a decision that means sacrificing his life to do what's right, Dastan remembers his father's charge, to stand for good and stop evil, "regardless of the consequences."
Now, if only today's so-called conservatives would learn the same lesson.
I may disagree with the direction Democrats are taking this country, but they have demonstrated that even in the face of irate voters, town hall catastrophes and marching tea partiers – all suggesting the Dems are about to lose their jobs in droves – Pelosi and company believe socializing medicine is right and uninsured Americans is wrong, and they'll fall on swords if that's what it takes to get Obamacare passed. Democrats also look poised to keep up the battle for what they believe in: whether it be "saving" the environment from "global warming," converting the U.S. to socialism or protecting women's "choice," as Dastan said, "regardless of the consequences."
If only the men and women with an R after their names who champion smaller government, fiscal responsibility and a commitment to life and liberty displayed the same dedication to stand honorably against the wrong "regardless of the consequences"!
Instead, anti-abortion Americans have been duped into voting for Republicans time and time again, only to see the so-called conservatives do nothing on the fundamental issue of life and death. Where were the honorable Republicans when Ronald Reagan nominated Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who defended a woman's "right" to define life for herself, thus a "right" to abortion? O'Connor was confirmed by a 99-0 vote in the Senate.
And where were the honorable Republicans who believe in fiscal responsibility and smaller government when President George W. Bush pushed for the first multi-billion-dollar "stimulus" package?
Where are the honorable Republicans who claim to stand for the U.S. Constitution, when we have a president who may not even be constitutionally eligible to hold that office?
America can no longer afford the so-called champions of conservative values valuing their careers over their convictions. The opponents of life and liberty know better. The "Prince of Persia" knows better. So should Republicans.
You can argue that conservatives voters would be still be better to vote Republican than Democrat, you can even argue that it would be "good." But like Dastan's father, I call on my representatives to once again strive to be great.
"A great man would have stopped what was wrong, no matter who was ordering it," he said – even if that commander is named Bush or Reagan.
Content advisory:
- "Prince of Persia" is a remarkably "clean" film, containing no profanity and limiting sexuality to some kissing, a few scantily clad slave girls and a single camera shot leering down a woman's dress.
- The film does contain, however, hefty amounts of fighting, dying, bloodshed and all-around violence. While rarely gruesome, if the video game is too violent for you, so is the movie.
- The movie toys with religion in several ways, even detailing a pagan myth that sounds similar to Noah's Ark, as the "gods" prepared to destroy all humanity for its evil ways but spare us for the purity of one. These "gods," however, use sand instead of water. The film also references the "gods," though it doesn't name them, and toys with "destiny" and other quasi-religious and magical themes.
- The film is filled with ornate costumes, paintings, tapestries, architecture, banners and weapons, many decorated with any number of symbols, some of which could be occult figures, but none of which are treated with any significance.