Rome on Screen – Roman Revolutions

Gladiator: Dignitas, Auctoritas, and All-that-other-tas

By Thai | May 5, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

In the movie Gladiator, we follow the story of Maximus Decimus Meridius and how he works his way back up from being a slave to avenging his family who was killed by Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius and brother of Maximus.
The movie starts off with Maximus returning to Rome defeating Germanic tribes near Vindobona with the Roman army. He comes back and his father Marcus Aurelius talks to him about making Maximus the successor of the Roman empire since he felt that Commodus wasn’t fit to do so. Upon hearing this, Commodus kills his father as an act of retaliation and seizes the throne for himself. He then asks Maximus for his support and loyalty, but when Maximus refuses, Commodus arranges for Maximus to be arrested and for his family to be killed. After escaping his arrest, he heads back home only to see his wife and child crucified and collapses shortly after.
When he wakes up, he finds that he has been captured by slavers and was then sold to a gladiator trainer named Proximo. Slowly recognizing that there is only 1 way to get out of this and to enact revenge, he reluctantly takes part in local tournaments where he easily wins and starts to earn recognition over time. This leads into the 150 days of games event by Commodus that was started to commemorate his father’s death, where Maximus finds his way into a reenactment of the Battle of Zama as a “Carthaginian”, where he actually leads his army to victory. After this, he reveals to the people in the colosseum and Commodus who he really was and declares an act of vengeance on Commodus. After fighting some more on his way to the top, he eventually faces Commodus in a duel, but was severely injured beforehand to put Commodus at an advantage. Even with that, Commodus dies, only for Maximus to succumb to his injury soon after.
All in all, the main themes I got from watching the movie was the difference between dignitas and auctoritas, with examples being Commodus and Maximus. Throughout the movie, Commodus was given a large amount of auctoritas, which gave him power, but severely lacked in dignitas due to his poor character and his actions throughout the movie. On the other hand, Maximus had a lot of dignitas but lost most of his auctoritas after Commodus arrested him, and this showed in the movie when Maximus had to earn his way up to challenge Commodus to a duel, but along the way gained more dignitas, earning the name Maximus the Merciful after sparing one of the strongest and undefeated gladiators in Tigris of Gaul. The 2 of them were opposites of each other through their actions throughout the movie.

Love Revenge and Eruptions!

By Parsons | May 4, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

The movie Pompeii follows the characters Milo, Cassia, Senator Corvus, and Atticus. For the most part, the main setting is Pompeii right before and during the volcanic eruption of 79. In the first scene, we are shown a flashback of Britannia, where Milo’s whole clan is slaughtered by Senator Corvus’s right-hand man Proculus because the clan is Celtic Rebels. Milo ends up surviving and being picked up by slave traders. When Milo is all grown up and has been fighting as a Gladiator in the city of Londinium. His owner, Graecus, watches Milo and decides he should be fighting in Pompeii.

On the journey to Pompeii, we meet Cassia. She is traveling there from Rome. While her carriage is passing the slaves one of her horses hurts itself, this leads to Milo putting it out of its misery. Then we see Cassia running through the city on her way to her family’s villa. At the villa, Cassia is greeted by her parents. We learn they want an imperial investment when they speak with Senator Corvus in the army camp.

The scene then shifts to the Arena. Here we meet Atticus, who is the current champion of Graecus’s gladiators and is one win away from freedom. We see the gladiators training for the Games which are set to be the next day. In the games, Atticus is set to fight Milo in the final fight of the day. During training, they fight but the Thracian’s brother tries to stab Milo. Atticus saves him, beginning their friendship. At night they are brought to Cassia’s Villa to be shown off. During the party, we learn the reason Cassia left Rome was because of interactions with the Senator.

It is time for the games and the order of fights has been changed. Milo and Atticus are part of the first fight which is a recreation of the slaughter of Milo’s people. Milo and Atticus win and upset the Senator’s plans. Vesuvius then erupts and chaos ensues. During the eruption, Milo and Atticus fight Corvus and Proculus and beat them. Milo and Cassia can finally be together but they do not escape the eruption and die in the ash. Upon watching this movie I had a few questions. I was wondering if Cassia’s father was the proconsul who was in charge of Pompeii. I was also confused about the emperor’s situation in Rome, more specifically why was calling Emperor Titus “new” a bad thing? Or did I miss something from the scene that was more an issue? Also, in regards to the announcers for the bouts in the arena, did they actually wear those masks? Even with these questions though, I thought the movie was very entertaining and a fun experience. Also, while I was not a fan of some of the inaccuracies of the eruption I did think they made for better drama. I always find it interesting that many of the Roman-based films I have watched have the antagonist being a corrupt politician, in this movie Senator Corvus in Gladiator it is Commodus.