Who has not thought of wandering into central Asia with their best friend in order to get rich by creating a petty kingdom for themselves? Believe it or not, that roughly describes the plot of today’s film, The Man Who Would Be King (1975). The two main characters, Peachy Carnehan (Michael Caine) and Daniel Dravot (Sean Connery), are two former soldiers in nineteenth-century, British-controlled India who come up with the scheme mentioned in the first sentence. They intend to arm a small-time warlord in the Kafiristan region north of Afghanistan, usurp this person once he gains control, and scamper home with the riches. In the process, they get much more than they imagined, in ways that are of interest to this Catholic reviewer. Here is a hint: there is a reason why the First Commandment says not to have any other gods before the one true God.
To get to that hint, we begin The Man Who Would Be King in Lahore around 1885, where newspaper correspondent Rudyard Kipling (Christopher Plummer) receives an unsettling visitor: a crippled, half-mad man who identifies himself as Peachy Carnehan. Rudyard eventually recognizes him, and Peachy begins explaining what happened to him and his companion, Daniel Dravot, three years earlier. Peachy first met Rudyard at a railway station by stealing his watch, only to return it after noticing the Masonic emblem attached to it and realizing that Rudyard was a fellow Freemason. He asks Rudyard to deliver a coded message to Daniel, who later reveals that the pair intend to blackmail a local rajah. Rudyard alerts the authorities and ruins that particular scheme, but Peachy and Daniel soon arrive at his newspaper office with a much grander plan. Deciding India is no longer large enough for their ambitions, they intend to travel into remote Kafiristan, arm and train the followers of a minor chief, conquer neighboring tribes, overthrow their temporary ally, and make themselves kings. Rudyard calls the idea madness, pointing out that no European has successfully penetrated the region since Alexander the Great. Undeterred, Peachy and Daniel draw up a contract promising to avoid alcohol and women until they have become kings and to remain loyal to each other. Rudyard witnesses it and gives Daniel his Masonic charm as a parting gift. Disguised as a mad holy man and his servant, the adventurers travel through Afghanistan and eventually reach the snow-covered mountains leading into Kafiristan. An avalanche traps them before another conveniently creates a bridge across a crevasse, allowing them to continue. Once inside the country, they intervene when warriors from Bashkai attack the people of Er-Heb. There they meet Billy Fish (Saeed Jaffrey), a Gurkha and sole survivor of an earlier British mapping expedition, who speaks English and becomes their indispensable interpreter. Daniel and Peachy persuade the local chief, Ootah (Doghmi Larbi), to let them train his men. Using their military experience and Martini rifles, they turn the villagers into a disciplined fighting force. During a battle with the Bashkai, an arrow strikes Daniel in the chest but lodges harmlessly in his bandolier. The astonished enemy concludes that he cannot be killed and surrenders. Billy explains that the people believe Daniel may be the promised son of Sikander, their name for Alexander the Great, whom they regard as a god who once conquered the region. Rather than correcting this misunderstanding, Daniel and Peachy recognize an extraordinarily useful opportunity. Their victories continue, defeated tribes join them, and Daniel’s reputation as a divine ruler spreads until resistance largely disappears. Eventually, the high priest Kafu Selim (Karroom Ben Bouih) summons Daniel to the holy city of Sikandergul to determine whether he truly is a god. Daniel appears likely to be killed during the test until the priests notice Rudyard’s Masonic emblem around his neck. The symbol matches one they associate with Sikander, convincing them that Daniel is indeed his descendant. The priests immediately accept him as king and reveal an enormous treasury of gold and jewels accumulated since Alexander’s time. Peachy believes their scheme has succeeded beyond imagination and wants to load up the treasure and return home. Daniel, however, has begun enjoying something more dangerous than riches: worship. He decides that becoming king was his destiny and orders Peachy to bow before him publicly so that the people will continue believing in his divinity. For a time, Daniel actually governs well, hearing disputes and attempting to dispense justice, while Peachy supervises construction of a bridge across a nearby chasm. The trouble is that Daniel gradually stops treating his godhood merely as a useful deception. He decides Kafiristan needs a dynasty and announces that he will marry the beautiful Roxanne (Shakira Caine), named for Alexander the Great’s wife, and father an heir. Peachy warns that this violates both their agreement and the mythology keeping them alive, but Daniel refuses to listen. Roxanne herself is terrified because she believes a mortal woman who lies with a god will burst into flames. At the wedding, Daniel tries to kiss her, and she bites his face. He bleeds. That small amount of blood destroys an entire fake religion rather efficiently. The priests and people immediately realize that their supposed god is mortal and turn against him. Daniel, Peachy, and Billy Fish attempt to escape. Billy sacrifices himself by charging into the mob while Daniel and Peachy are captured. Daniel finally admits that he has ruined everything and asks Peachy’s forgiveness, so at least there is a Christian moment in the closing minutes. The people lead him onto the newly completed rope bridge, cut its supports, and send him plunging into the chasm while he sings “The Son of God Goes Forth to War.” All this has been told by Peachy in flashback. He concludes his tale to a stunned Rudyard by relating how he had been crucified between two pine trees. When he somehow survives until morning, his captors release him, and after a terrible journey he eventually returns to Lahore. Back in Rudyard’s office, Peachy finishes his story by insisting that Daniel accompanied him home and never released his hand. He then opens a sack and places Daniel’s severed, still-crowned head before the horrified writer.
Thus ends the attempt by two soldiers to make themselves kings in The Man Who Would Be King, with one man broken and the other reduced to a relic of his own delusions of divinity. For this Catholic reviewer, there is an obvious First Commandment problem with accepting worship meant for God, but Daniel’s downfall adds another warning: pretending to be a god is dangerous enough, but beginning to believe your own blasphemy is considerably worse. There are wages to this sin as well. As Daniel starts to take stock in his supposed divinity, his relationship with Peachy changes. Instead of their chummy repartee, Peachy is at first asked to bow and scrape before Daniel, if initially only for the illusion’s sake. Daniel’s reason for this is initially sound. They need to keep up appearances for a little while longer before they can make off with their loot. Yet, do you see the vocabulary used and how it relates to so many of the capital sins? Pride is the obvious one, though it starts honorably enough with Daniel wanting to do right by the people he is governing, even if his claim to divinity is a sham. The problem comes when he falls in love with the power he is wielding and wishes to continue doing so. The interesting aspect is lust. The two men make an agreement of continence before they leave that any Catholic religious could appreciate, even if they are sorely tested. While Peachy is a little more accepting of the reminder when Daniel catches him with a naked woman, it is Daniel who cannot control his desire for Roxanne. It needs to be underscored that there is a good component to each of these behaviors. As mentioned, Daniel should be lauded for wanting to do right, and there is nothing wrong with sexuality. Where the sin comes in is in how we allow these desires to manifest. Wanting to marry Roxanne out of genuine love and to enter faithfully into the vocation of marriage: good. Wanting to get a ceremony over with so you can carry on your ruling line: bad.
What is not bad is The Man Who Would Be King, and I got through this without discussing Catholicism’s precepts against Freemasonry and greed. Along with the other two sins covered in the previous paragraph, the story underscores why engaging in these activities can be a bad idea.
