Ridley Scott’s Gladiator follows the story of fictional Roman war general, Maximus. Maximus is a highly respected general in the Roman army who holds a great friendship with Emperor Marcus Aurelius in the film. As the war looks to be ending, Maximus would like to return home to his family as he has not seen his wife and son in almost 3 years. The Emperor would look like Maximus to succeed him as the leader of Rome, but Maximus is hesitant on taking his offer. At the same time, Commodus, Marcus Aurelius’s son, has big aspirations to take the throne from his father, and upon hearing that Maximus will be named the next leader of Rome, Commodus kills his father and frames Maximus for the murder. After this, Maximus is sent off to be killed, but he kills the soldiers who attempt to kill him and he journeys home. He sees that his family has been murdered and his land burned and this is when his plan for vengeance starts. Maximus is picked up by a merchant who sells slaves, and Maximus is ultimately sold to a man named Proximo. Proximo purchases Maximus along with other slaves to fight in the gladiator pit in his province. Maximus becomes a formidable force and fan favorite there, so when Commodus who has taken the throne of Rome, decides there needs to be 150 days of games, Proximo takes Maximus and the other gladiators to fight in Rome. Right away Maximus becomes the fan favorite because of expertise and his defiance towards the king. Commodus is shocked to see Maximus is alive again and does everything in his power to try and get him killed in the gladiator fights, but Maximus always prevails. Later on, with the help of his former servant, Cicero, and Commodus’s sister, Lucilla, Maximus attempts to overthrow Commodus and put Gracchus in power to restore the Republic. He also wants to escape to meet up with his men so they can fight Commodus’s army. This plan is foiled and Maximus is imprisoned once again, but Commodus wants to kill him himself. They fight in front of the crowd, but Maximus is able to beat the man who ordered his family’s death and complete his plan for vengeance. Gracchus is put in power and Maximus reunites with his family in the afterlife.

This movie portrayed themes of vengeance, power, and resilience. I was happy to see that Maximus was able to complete his plan of trying to restore the Republic and killing Commodus. Maximus never gave up and knew what it was gonna take in order to complete his plan. Even when the odds were stacked against him he never backed down and always showed true resilience.

Summary

When I saw “I’m Spartacus!” scene in class, I knew that I would have to watch Spartacus for acta. The movie opens with Spartacus as a slave in a mining pit, and he has been sentenced to death for gnawing on the achilles of a Roman overseer in the mines. As he is being punished through starvation, a gladiator trainer named Batiatus visits the mines and purchases Spartacus. After Spartacus arrives at the training school, which also doubles as Batiatus’s estate, he meets the gladiator instructor Marcellus. Marcellus and sometimes Batiatus are cruel to the gladiators, especially Spartacus. They even shame him for refusing to rape an enslaved woman, Varinia, who they send to his room to have sex with him. Spartacus and Virinia gradually fal in love with one another, and as Spartacus is continuing with his training, Marcus Licinius Crassus arrives at Batiatus’s estate with a group of wealthy friends. These friends make Batiatus choose two pairs of the gladiators-in-training to fight to the death, which Batiatus protests is not commonly done and will reduce the trainees’ morale. Crassus and his friends insist, and Spartacus is chosen to fight against an Ethiopian man named Draba. Right as Draba is about to win the fight, he turns away from Spartacus and throws his trident at Crassus’s head, narrowly missing him. After Draba is killed for this, Marcellus taunts Spartacus for being upset that Crassus bought Varinia and is leaving, which causes Spartacus to lunge and attack Marcellus, which incites a revolt at the Batiatus estate.

This riot allows all the ex-gladiators to escape the estate, and through raiding other Roman estates and freeing slaves, amasses a large group of ex-slaves and a lot of money. After meeting with a Cilician pirate, Spartacus resolves to raise enough money and arms to fund the creation of ships to take him and his people out of Rome. He plans to do this by taking his people south to Brundisium, and on the way he will raise the money and arms. On this journey down to Brundisium, he reunites with Varinia and defeats six cohorts of the Roman Garrison, which concerns the Roman senate. Eventually, Spartacus makes it to Brundisium with enough money for the ships, a well armed army, and Varinia pregnant with his child. The audience and Julius Caesar then learn that the Cilicians were bribed by Gracchus to help Spartacus leave Italy. Caesar then tells this to Crassus, who then bribes the pirates to not help Spartacus. So, when Spartacus talks with the pirates at Brundisium, he learns that there are no ships, Pompey and Crassus are coming at him with their legions, and his only choice is to march to Rome. He does this, and meets with both Pompey and Crassus on the field, losing the battle. After the battle, Crassus asks the survivors which one of them is Spartacus, and if they reveal this, they all will be spared except Spartacus, and if they do not, they will all be crucified. To this, the survivors stand up and begin to declare that each of them are Spartacus, until it reaches the point where they are all standing and declaring that they are Spartacus. After this, Spartacus is forced to fight a battle with one of his former men, and Varinia and her son are taken by Crassus. Finally, Gracchus frees Varinia and her son to insult Crassus, and as Varinia is leaving Crassus’s estate, she sees Spartacus being crucified. She shows him their son, and with tears says that they are finally free.

Reflection

I am really happy I chose this movie to watch. The ending, and arguably the entire movie, was heartbreaking for Spartacus. Even though I knew how it would end because of history, I still found myself in denial hoping that there was some way that Spartacus won, almost like a Battle of the Bastards-esq rescue from some other army at the end, or some other pirates helping him, or anything that allowed him to survive. It was really cool seeing the history we learned in class play out, and I almost wish that they worked even more of it into the movie (maybe some Dignitas or Ius action). Furthermore, it was really cool to see the mos maiorum in action, and I loved understanding what an atrium was and knowing how some of the characters may have looked at certain issues. Crassus was an unbelievably despisable villian, and the movie did a great job using him to depict how awful it was in those times to be a slave. All in all, Spartacus was an entertaining, immersive movie with amazing characters and a really heart-wrenching story.

I watched the third season of the Netflix series Roman Empire, which is about the reign of Caligula, and is rightfully titled “The Mad Emperor.”  It is in the form of a documentary, but it is a  historical dramatization of the true events of Caligula’s life.  It begins with Caligula’s early life which was heavily influenced by his relationship with his father, Germanicus, who was a general.  Caligula spent a lot of time around the battlefield with him and began developing leadership skills and a war-like mentality.  A scene that really stood out to me was when he was hiding in a cabinet to avoid being taken away by the Roman guards who were after his family for spreading misinformation.  Germanicus had just died, and his family suspected that Tiberius had killed him so that he would no longer be the heir to the throne, so they were speaking out against Tiberius.  Although I am not sure if he actually hid in a cabinet, the scene was very intense, and really emphasized the trauma that Caligula experienced as a child, which is very important to his later development.

Later in his life, Caligula was taken to Capri to live under Tiberius’ personal care, along with Tiberius’ son, Tiberius Gemmellus.  There, Caligula was essentially his servant and had to hide his hard feelings against Tiberius.  Surprisingly, right before Tiberius died, he named both his son and Caligula to be Emperors, despite their history.  During his first six months, Caligula was a noble, well-respected leader, but after that, he descended into a state of insanity and tyranny.  While the part I watched was mainly about his early life, his progression makes sense, based on his highly traumatic childhood.

I really liked watching this TV series, as it gave very good visuals and insight into Caligula’s early life.  I had not thought about how his childhood would have influenced his later life and rule.  It was very interesting to see how they depicted his life and it gave me a better understanding of how all of the pieces of his life fit together.

As someone who has always loved action movies, seeing that I could watch Gladiator for an acta was extremely appealing, and I thoroughly enjoyed all two and a half hours of it. The movie starts off with the protagonist Maximus leading his army to victory and ending a long war, which earned him the approval of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. Marcus then named Maximus to be his successor, which angered Commodus, Marcus’ son who was expecting to be named his successor, and he kills Marcus in anger, declaring himself emperor instead and asking Maximus for his loyalty. Maximus refuses, which enrages Commodus and he orders Maximus to be executed along with his wife and son. Maximus barely escapes, but comes home to find his wife and son dead, and to top it all off he is soon captured by slave traders. He is sold to Proximo, who leads a gladiator school. Maximus initially refuses to fight, still distraught over the loss of his wife and son, but soon submits, rapidly gaining popularity. Then, Commodus hires Proximo’s gladiators to compete in the gladiatorial games in Rome, unknowingly hiring Maximus as well. Once Maximus and his gladiators win their first fight, Commodus enters the arena to meet them and is shocked to realize Maximus is the leader. However, because of his popularity, Commodus is unable to kill him. He tried everything in his power to rig the gladiator fights against Maximus, but Maximus still continues to succeed, steadily gaining popularity and Commodus steadily losing popularity. Maximus then encounters an old friend who tells him his army is still loyal to him and gives him their location. Lucilla, Commodus’ sister, makes a plan with Maximus and Gracchus to reunite the army and overthrow Commodus, as she if fearful of him and his intentions. Commodus discovers this plan before it is able to be carried out and storms Proximo’s camp, killing many and imprisoning the rest. Maximus again barely escapes but is soon captured by Commodus and challenged to a battle in the colosseum. Commodus injures Maximus right before the battle, but Maximus is still able to win and kills Commodus. Dying Maximus then orders the release of Proximo’s gladiators and reinstates Gracchus to the senate, ordering him to restore power to the senate and make Rome a republic again. Maximus then dies in the colosseum and is finally reunited with his wife and son.

This movie was thrilling and entertaining, leaving me constantly wondering what would happen next. It was emotionally captivating because of Maximus’ story and losses throughout the movie, making his victories that much more enjoyable. It was also cool to see some of the aspects we learned about in class, like the colosseum, the appearance of horses in battle and the arena, Maximus’ three names, discovering that Proximo had also been a gladiator and won his freedom, and the reinstatement on the senate in order to restore the republic. Overall, this movie was engaging and powerful with a satisfying ending, and gives us insight into the dramatic nature of Roman society filled with undercover plots to kill and overthrow.