Gladiator is the story of Maximus, a Roman general turned gladiator. The film begins with Maximus having led the Romans to victory. After returning home, the emperor informs Maximus that he feels his own son, Commodus, is unfit to rule, and he would like Maximus to succeed him in his place. Commodus, in reaction to this news, kills his father and seizes power. After refusing to follow the new emperor, Maximus is arrested and his family is killed. Maximus fights his way to freedom only to be taken by slavers and sold to a gladiator trainer. Maximus excels in his matches and starts to gain popularity. Through the advice of his trainer, Maximus attempts to win his freedom through combat.

During a series of games held by Commodus to honor his father’s passing, Maximus disguises himself and leads his side to victory. After winning, Maximus is forced to reveal his identity. Upon revealing his identity, Maximus declares that he will have vengeance on Commodus. Maximus’ life is only spared through the persuasion of the crowd. Maximus continues to win battles, even gaining the title “Maximus the Merciful” for the clementia he demonstrated in sparing an opponents’ life. 

Maximus attempts to use the power of his old legions to overthrow Commodus. These plans fall short, however, once Commodus discovers this plot against him. Maximus is captured once more and Cicero, with whom he was plotting, is killed. 

In a last attempt to win back the favor of the people, Commodus duels with Maximus in the Colosseum. Despite his usage of unfair tactics, Commodus is still overpowered by Maximus and ultimately killed. However, in the end Maximus also dies succumbing to the wounds inflicted upon him. He makes a number of dying requests for changes within Roman politics, and to free the other gladiators.

This movie was very entertaining, albeit maybe not very historically accurate. From the outside research I did, it seems that Gladiator was loosely based on actual historical events but it certainly took some liberties. That being said, it also seems that Ridley Scott took care to make sure that Roman culture was represented with historical accuracy. So while the plot might not be entirely true to history, there is an impressive dedication to showing how Roman culture actually looked. I think that the movie definitely does a good job of showing the audience just how cruel Rome in its traditions and politics could really be.

The film Cleopatra is an interesting story that follows a large sum of Cleopatra’s life up to the point of her untimely demise. The first part of the film covers Cleopatra and Julius Caesar’s relationship. With the help of Caesar, Cleopatra is named queen of Egypt. Cleopatra starts to plan for a future with Caesar. She fantasizes about the two of them ruling the world together. Cleopatra and Caesar ultimately marry, and Cleopatra gives birth to their son. After returning to Rome, Caesar becomes the dictator. He extends an invite for Cleopatra to join him in Rome. Shortly after this Caesar is assassinated. When his will is read, however, it recognizes Caesar’s adopted son to be his heir rather than his and Cleopatra’s son. Cleopatra leaves Rome to return to Egypt.

Eventually Antony and Cleopatra begin an affair. This affair is ruptured when Antony must marry Octavia to prevent political unrest. Cleopatra is furious and eventually Antony divorces Octavia and marries Cleopatra. This sparks controversy and through a series of events Rome declares war on Egypt. At the end of this war Antony is tricked into believing that Cleopatra has killed herself, which he responds to by ending his own life. Cleopatra’s son is killed during the war. Eventually, Cleopatra is then offered by Octavian that she might rule Egypt but now as a province of Rome. The film ends with Cleopatra, with the the help of her assistants, taking her own life.

Despite some obvious dramatization, this film did a great job of showing some of the absurdities of Roman politics. I had no idea how deep Cleopatra’s involvement in some of these later Roman political moments was. I also had no clue what the actual relationship dynamic between Caesar and Cleopatra was before this. I feel as though it can sometimes be undersold as a brief affair in which Caesar spent a bit of time in Rome, but it was ultimately a fling. This film showed that that was very much not the case. Because our class mostly covered the time period up to this point, I also didn’t know much about Mark Antony. It was very interesting to learn about his involvement/relationship to all of these moments in history. I had also somehow missed in history that Cleopatra took her own life. I feel like this movie filled a lot of gaps in my historical knowledge about this era, while also being very entertaining.