Did God Paint You?

A favorite family movie is Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Alan Rickman. For those who have not seen it, Kevin Costner plays Robin of Locksley an upper crust Englishman who goes off to fight in the Crusades. The movie starts with him and Morgan Freeman (Azeem) in a Muslim prison. Robin is about to get his hand cut off and trick the jailer to cut his own hand off. In the confusion, he escapes with Azeem who because he has saved his life pledges to do the same for Robin. On his return to England, he finds that his family home has been burned, his father hanged as a devil worshipper and he is not wanted. He stands up for a young man that was being hunted by men of the Sheriff of Nottingham (played by Alan Rickman) and makes an enemy of the sheriff. As an outcast, he joins a group of people who have fled to the forest to escape the sheriff’s tyranny.

Alan Rickman plays the Sheriff of Nottingham to the hilt. He is mean to the point of being evil but he makes it fun to be the sheriff. At one point, he is getting ready to go to bed and as he walks by some women in the passage he points at one and says, “You 10:00.” He points at the next woman and says, “You 10:45 and bring a friend.” I laugh every time I see it. The sheriff is plotting to overthrow King Richard while he is away at the crusade. He needs to align himself with the royal house and Maid Marion, played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Marion and Robin are childhood friends and Marion had a crush on Robin as a teenager. So they develop some chemistry and the competition between the sheriff and Robin begins.

At the point in the film where Robin is training the Merry Men, a young girl walks up to Azeem. She is staring at him in an unusual way. The dialogue goes like this:

Azeem: Salaam, little one.
Small Girl: Did God paint you?
Azeem: Did God paint me?
Azeem: For certain.
Small Girl: Why?
Azeem: Because Allah loves wondrous varieties

The girl has never seen a black man before and her manner is very innocent. It took me a while to understand that part of the film because Azeem has tattoos and I thought she was referencing them. After I realized that tattoos were common back them, I figured out that she meant his skin. Once the light bulb turned on, his statement back to her made perfect sense.

If you haven’t seen the movie, I recommend it. Brian Adams does his biggest hit as the movie closer. A perfect ending to a great film.

Icool

Cobb