Spartacus
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.
