4 ms·

The one thing I could think of while reading the article, this guy Denard's story would make a great movie! Despite the obvious nastiness, he seems to have live

by akudha 5y ago

The one thing I could think of while reading the article, this guy Denard's story would make a great movie! Despite the obvious nastiness, he seems to have lived a colorful life. I know it is wrong to popularize such characters by making movies about them, but damn, such stories are interesting. I guess there is a reason bad boy stories (like Netflix's Narcos show) are popular

wolverine876 5y ago
I don't understand your point. Stories about bad people sell? That goes back to Bible and the Odyssey.
- akudha 5y ago
  Yeah, stories about bad people sell much easier than stories about good people. How many movies and shows are there on Netflix about drug lords, serial killers etc vs saints and good people? The public has a weird fascination with bad people. It makes good TV. That is why the front page of a newspaper is filled with negative stories, gossips, murders, mayhem etc. Rarely does the front page features a doctor doing free surgeries.
  - wolverine876 5y ago
    > How many movies and shows are there on Netflix about drug lords, serial killers etc vs saints and good people? There are plenty of popular bad guy stories, but I think that far overstates the case: The Bible and Quran are the biggest sellers and over a billion people (very rough guess) read them weekly, if not more often. Most stories, including in film, have positive protagonists. For action, consider LotR, superhero movies, etc. For history, most war movies, biographies, etc. Maybe your queue is different? :)
    - akudha 5y ago
      You're mixing religious text and fantasy with movies/documentaries based on real people. Those are two different genre. People will watch a movie on mother Teresa as well as a movie on Hitler (or some other monster). But I bet a lot more people would be interested in the bad person movie. This doesn't mean that they are bad people, it is just that generally, movies on bad people are more interesting to the masses than movies on good people. It is not my queue I am talking about (I watch good shows too). You can look at History channel, Netflix etc - and if you compare apples to apples, I bet movies/shows on bad people are a easier sell than movies/shows on good people.
rsj_hn 5y ago
They already made a movie called "Wild Geese" (1978) starring Roger Moore and Richard Burton, inspired by the life of another adventurer, Mike Hoare. I recommend watching it. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078492/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078492/ https://madmikehoare.com/ https://madmikehoare.com/ Hoare was a British Colonel in WW2 who later became a mercenary that worked a lot in Africa, most famously defeating Che Guevara and the (monstrous) Simba revolt, freeing a group of nuns and other white prisoners that the Simbas were holding hostage and ultimately being instrumental in defeating the entire rebellion using some novel counter-insurgency techniques. Hoare would organize small squads that penetrated deep into rebel-held territory and destroyed supply shipments and laid ambushes for enemy soldiers. Basically a launching a guerrilla attack against the guerrillas themselves. Fun Fact: The Simbas were almost comically evil -- they were communist cannibals that practiced ethnic cleansing of rival tribes (not uncommon in the various African revolts) and set up concentration camps (which was uncommon). They were famous for cutting out prisoners' livers and then eating the liver as the prisoner bled to death. They had a particular fixation for white nuns - there were many in Africa at the time - torturing, raping, and ultimately killing a large number. Some were held hostage for ransom from the West. Fun Fact 2: Much has been said accusing Che Guevara of racism for insulting the capabilities of his black soldiers during the conflict, mostly blaming his defeat on the poor quality of his troops, and arguing that if he would have had enough cuban troops, he would never be defeated. While I think this is a bit unfair given today's hypersensitiveness, Hoare never complained about his black troops and in fact praised their heroism. Hoare was an excellent leader in the field and had a close sense of camaraderie with his troops, which you would need to be to launch small-man operations deep behind enemy lines. There are many other stories about Mike Hoare. For example he was hired to launch a coup in some nation, but the plot was discovered and the government set an ambush for his men as they arrived in the airport. This ended up in a shootout at the airport, Hoare hijacked a plane, and flew it out of the country, landing his men in South Africa, where they were promptly arrested. Arrested, yet alive. Hoare served a brief sentence in jail for that. Hoare died a happy death, in bed in his home in France in 2020, at the age of 100, a well-loved figure surrounded by fat grandkids. There are many such adventurers that went to Africa -- it was, and remains in many ways -- the wild west. There you can launch coups, steal gold, fight for land. And especially during the decolonization period and its aftermath, you had a number of weak governments flooded with western dollars but no competence, so they hired western firms to do everything from build electricity plants to run their armies or set up a telephone service. Foreigners were not just hired to aid in supporting and opposing rebellions, they were brought into all areas, but the military aspects are the ones that create the best adventure stories.

by akudha 5y ago

wolverine876 5y ago

I don't understand your point. Stories about bad people sell? That goes back to Bible and the Odyssey.

akudha 5y ago
Yeah, stories about bad people sell much easier than stories about good people. How many movies and shows are there on Netflix about drug lords, serial killers etc vs saints and good people? The public has a weird fascination with bad people. It makes good TV. That is why the front page of a newspaper is filled with negative stories, gossips, murders, mayhem etc. Rarely does the front page features a doctor doing free surgeries.
- wolverine876 5y ago
  > How many movies and shows are there on Netflix about drug lords, serial killers etc vs saints and good people? There are plenty of popular bad guy stories, but I think that far overstates the case: The Bible and Quran are the biggest sellers and over a billion people (very rough guess) read them weekly, if not more often. Most stories, including in film, have positive protagonists. For action, consider LotR, superhero movies, etc. For history, most war movies, biographies, etc. Maybe your queue is different? :)
  - akudha 5y ago
    You're mixing religious text and fantasy with movies/documentaries based on real people. Those are two different genre. People will watch a movie on mother Teresa as well as a movie on Hitler (or some other monster). But I bet a lot more people would be interested in the bad person movie. This doesn't mean that they are bad people, it is just that generally, movies on bad people are more interesting to the masses than movies on good people. It is not my queue I am talking about (I watch good shows too). You can look at History channel, Netflix etc - and if you compare apples to apples, I bet movies/shows on bad people are a easier sell than movies/shows on good people.

rsj_hn 5y ago

They already made a movie called "Wild Geese" (1978) starring Roger Moore and Richard Burton, inspired by the life of another adventurer, Mike Hoare. I recommend watching it. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078492/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078492/ https://madmikehoare.com/ https://madmikehoare.com/ Hoare was a British Colonel in WW2 who later became a mercenary that worked a lot in Africa, most famously defeating Che Guevara and the (monstrous) Simba revolt, freeing a group of nuns and other white prisoners that the Simbas were holding hostage and ultimately being instrumental in defeating the entire rebellion using some novel counter-insurgency techniques. Hoare would organize small squads that penetrated deep into rebel-held territory and destroyed supply shipments and laid ambushes for enemy soldiers. Basically a launching a guerrilla attack against the guerrillas themselves. Fun Fact: The Simbas were almost comically evil -- they were communist cannibals that practiced ethnic cleansing of rival tribes (not uncommon in the various African revolts) and set up concentration camps (which was uncommon). They were famous for cutting out prisoners' livers and then eating the liver as the prisoner bled to death. They had a particular fixation for white nuns - there were many in Africa at the time - torturing, raping, and ultimately killing a large number. Some were held hostage for ransom from the West. Fun Fact 2: Much has been said accusing Che Guevara of racism for insulting the capabilities of his black soldiers during the conflict, mostly blaming his defeat on the poor quality of his troops, and arguing that if he would have had enough cuban troops, he would never be defeated. While I think this is a bit unfair given today's hypersensitiveness, Hoare never complained about his black troops and in fact praised their heroism. Hoare was an excellent leader in the field and had a close sense of camaraderie with his troops, which you would need to be to launch small-man operations deep behind enemy lines. There are many other stories about Mike Hoare. For example he was hired to launch a coup in some nation, but the plot was discovered and the government set an ambush for his men as they arrived in the airport. This ended up in a shootout at the airport, Hoare hijacked a plane, and flew it out of the country, landing his men in South Africa, where they were promptly arrested. Arrested, yet alive. Hoare served a brief sentence in jail for that. Hoare died a happy death, in bed in his home in France in 2020, at the age of 100, a well-loved figure surrounded by fat grandkids. There are many such adventurers that went to Africa -- it was, and remains in many ways -- the wild west. There you can launch coups, steal gold, fight for land. And especially during the decolonization period and its aftermath, you had a number of weak governments flooded with western dollars but no competence, so they hired western firms to do everything from build electricity plants to run their armies or set up a telephone service. Foreigners were not just hired to aid in supporting and opposing rebellions, they were brought into all areas, but the military aspects are the ones that create the best adventure stories.