Revenge, Love, and Firey Ash: The Story of Pompeii

Paul W. S. Anderson’s Pompeii begins with a Celtic rebellion in Great Britain which was quickly put down by the Roman Legions. Only one person survives, a little boy who wanders through the woods after seeing his family killed until he is enslaved. He emerges 17 years later in London as a feared gladiator. Known as the Celt, he emerges into the ring and kills 5 fearsome gladiators, while starting the match unarmed. The Celt is transported to Pompeii and on the way meets a nobleman’s daughter when he is tasked with putting her injured horse out of its misery. He displays his fighting skills among the rest of the gladiators when they attempt to kill him while he is eating a meal. The Celt refuses to reveal his name and is told he will be fighting the best gladiator in Pompeii. In the meanwhile, a Roman senator has come to express interest in investing in the city while also attempting to gather the nobleman’s daughter in marriage. The Celt realizes that the Roman senator was the one who killed his entire village and all his family. At a party celebrating investment in Pompeii’s future, the celt and the nobleman’s daughter run away on a horse after it gets startled by an earthquake. They are caught and the Celt is punished with 15 lashes but is also sanctioned to a new role in the gladiator festivities where he is supposed to die. However, he rises to the occasion and wins, breaking the Roman flag in half in the process. The senator is infuriated and orders the Celt killed but the volcano erupts which causes an earthquake and the colosseum falls apart, allowing the Celt to escape. The Senator also imprisons Cassia, the nobleman’s daughter, and kills her parents. The Celt frees her as fiery ash from the volcano rains down on the city. The city starts to flood from a tsunami and much of the city begins to fall into disarray. The senator recaptures Cassia and escapes on a chariot as the Celt gives chase on a horse. The Celt defeats the Senator in combat and locks him to a chariot to be consumed by the explosion. The Celt and Cassia ride away but the horse throws them off and they kiss before being engulfed in flames and memorialized in ash.

I felt that Pompeii, although cheesy, provided a great historical look at the city of Pompeii, the corruption of Roman Senators, and what it may have been like to experience being consumed by an exploding volcano. Pompeii uses a historical Roman conquest to fuel a love and revenge story, keeping the viewer on their toes while simultaneously giving a semi-historical representation. Perhaps it is the lack of knowledge from personal testimony that allows a director’s imagination to run wild on what the city was like that fateful day.