A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a ridiculous musical comedy that follows Pseudolus, a slave, on his convoluted path to purchase his freedom. The film begins with Pseudolus scamming a man to win money, only to lose it after his masters discover it. He is narrowly saved from death by becoming a personal slave to a different woman. When hiding from her, as she is obsessive, Pseudolus meets Hero, the son of his masters, in a tree. Pseudolus barters with Hero, stating that he will help Hero get Philia in exchange for Pseudolus’ freedom. The story follows Pseudolus’ quest to matchmaking Hero and Philia. However, Philia was recently sold to wed Captain Gloriosus, who recently returned from battle. As Pseudolus attempts to stall the captain, Hero, and Philia run around Hero’s abode, looking for each other or hiding from others. Pseudolus decides to fake Philia’s death; however, this quickly goes astray when the captain holds a funeral service for Philia. Pseudolus’ friend dresses as Philia during the funeral, but Pseudolus’ scheme is ruined when the captain notices the friend’s movements. Thankfully, one of the men has been searching for his children through identical rings they all share. The man discovers that his son is the captain and his daughter is Philia. The film ends happily, with Hero and Philia falling in love, a family being reunited, and Pseudolus being freed. 

Overall I thought the film was entertaining, although very confusing, especially towards the end. The secondary characters tended to blend, so the ending, especially the near-death scene, was confusing. With all of the characters running around, it was difficult to keep track of the plot points. I enjoyed seeing Roman’s relationship with their slaves in the film, and although it was a bit dramatized, thought it was interesting how Pseudolus’s masters tended to be kind and trust him. As a musical comedy, it is understandable that the film ends happily, although this would not be realistic in Rome. The film’s extreme close-ups added to the film’s absurdity, and it was a film based on musical theater, as shown by the dramatic facial expressions. 

Pompeii follows gladiator Milo in Pompeii before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The movie opens with a brutal slaughter of Milo’s parents by Senator Corvus’ troops when he was a kid. Years later, he is sold to fight in Pompeii. On his way, he encounters Cassia, who thanks him for putting a fallen horse out of misery. In Pompeii, Milo meets Atticus, a fellow gladiator, and after initial hostility, the two eventually become allies. The gladiators are shown at a dinner party attended by Cassia and her family. Milo sees Cassia again but they are unable to talk until Milo calms Cassia’s horse after rumbles from Vesuvius frightens it. The pair take a ride in the countryside but encounter Roman soldiers, who bring the pair back to Pompeii. Throughout the movie, the pair deal with the corrupt Senator Corvus, who aims to kill Milo and marry Cassia against her will. During a gladiator fight, Corvus nearly issues a kill order on Milo and Atticus, but Cassia prevents their death and is locked in a room. After this fight, the arena begins to crumble as Vesuvius erupts. While most people attempt to escape, Atticus and Milo rush to free Cassia. Atticus later kills Proculus, the second in command of Corvus and is killed by the eruption. Milo and Cassia flee, but realizing their futile attempt, dismount their horse and kiss as they are smothered in ash.  

Overall, I found the movie a bit predictable and overdramatized. As someone who does not enjoy violent movies, I did not like the vividness of the stabbings. Multiple times I turned away as people’s heads were cut off or they were stabbed in the abdomen. I liked how the characters did not like the Romans, as it was a different perspective than we look at in class. While we focus on the splendor of Rome’s military conquests, we tend to ignore the people who were killed for and resent Rome. While I thought Milo and Cassia’s connection was superficial and unrealistic, I liked the relationship between Milo and Atticus. Milo has become unemotional out of necessity. His initial hostility towards Atticus is warranted, as it is Milo’s nature to refuse connections with those he will kill. The relationship between these two appears to be the only major substantial relationship in the film. 

My roommate, who also watched the movie, did not mind the violent scenes. She found that although there were obvious historical inaccuracies and the love plot seemed unrealistic, it did add a humane aspect to the mass death. She later questioned if there actually were people found kissing after being buried, as portrayed in the movie. She is now researching Pompeii videos on Youtube to find out. 

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