Pompeii: An Explosive Story

Pompeii starts in  Britannia, where Tribune Corvus killed all of the Celts. This does not seem accurate that Tributes could lead armies in the empire. A Celtic boy, later called The Celt, is enslaved as a gladiator. He is sent to Pompeii to fight. He meets the rich citizen love interest and ends a horse’s pain. Her roman house looks very similar to the one presented in class with a central courtyard with a fountain. The Celt wins a brawl. While sparring, the champion gladiator Atticus saves the Celt from being killed by the previous guy he brawled with. Severus, the love interest’s father, and a corrupt senator are doing a business deal. The Senator got mad about Severarus describing Emperor Titus as the new emperor. This is a reference to Roman’s dislike of new things. The love interest’s name is Cassia, and the Senator wants to marry her against her wishes. Vesuvius causes more and more earthquakes. The quaked scared Cassia’s horse, and The Celt calmed it down. Cassia wants to help the Celt escape, but he refuses to save her. The Celt finds out that Senator Corvus killed his family. As punishment for escaping, The Celt gets whipped, and Corvus plans for the Celt to die in the arena the next day. The Celt introduces himself to Atticus as Milo. The next day the proclaimers in the arena had masks on with the mouth to project sound. The arena reenacts the Celtic massacre. Corvus threatens Cassia’s father into agreeing to have Cassia marry him. After winning the battle, the crowd wants Atticus and Milo to live. This references to the court system where the people can save people. Milo fights the champion of Rome that helped kill his family. Vesuvius erupts, and the Arena breaks apart. Corvus kills Cassia’s dad. In the chaos, Milo and Atticus find Cassia and go to the arena for horses to escape. Corvus takes Cassia, and Milo follows him. Atticus fights the champion of Rome. Atticus dies and kills the champion of Rome. Milo kills Corvus by leaving him for the volcano. Milo and Cassia ride out of Pompeii. They kiss and then die.  Overall, this movie was less accurate in portraying Rome. It was more dramatized but still had accurate parts. It did a good job showing the reach of Rome of having similar gladiator pits in Britainia as Pompeii, and still, it being Rome across those distances. The movie does acknowledge that people of different social classes did not interact, however in real life, I doubt a gladiator and woman of a noble would form a relationship. They did show people being entertained by gladiators. The set design looked very realistic, specifically the roman house. It also accurately portrayed Pompeii since it was very destructive and few escaped. The movie also accurately portrayed the corruption that must have been prevalent in the senate and those in power. It also shows that Rome was brutal in putting down rebellions.