Gladiator

[Guest Scathane]

Some musing on the movie Gladiator here, which I presume you've all seen. I always hought that the opening scene is one of the greatest I ever saw, because it brings to life the awesome power and technological advance of the Roman Empire.

 

But..., what do you think? Is this opening scene (or any other part of the movie) as realistic as the suggest it is?

 

Your views please.

[Trejiuvanat]

Hmmmmmmm. I didn't see that movie... So I guess I cannot participate here....

[wormie]

Dunno about how realistic it is, but it is damn entertaining.

[R2-Opus2]

I can't say for sure if its an exacting piece of history, insofar as the characters. The settings, technology and the circumstances of the time seem accurate to me though but I'm no history buff . I could also be wrong, but I think Richard Harris' character and that of his son were real people...if they were, Hollywood definitely took some liberties cause as far as I know no king died in his own arena

[Jahled]

Gladiator is one of the great films of this century; entirely in the style of the great 'Sword and Sandle' epics of the 50s & 60s. Our hero Russel Crow puts in a perormance he is unlikely to achieve again unless given a franchice such as James Bond (which ain't so unlikely; he just has to keep his cool at British award ceremonies!) He played his part at 110%, perfectly typed cast from the unknown, pulling the charisma starring role in the footsteps of such movies as Ben Hur and I would even say almost getting close to Richard Burton. Our Australian dude was magnificant!

 

Realism? It's never gone down well with Hollywood, as most Europeans will know with the recent trash of Holywood crap, especially concerning that film I boycotted concerning the Enigma code; and not least with Gladiator.

 

The characters in the movie (apart from our hero) were certainly real; there's an account right near the Strand in London I drop to with a huge marble bust of the Emperor Lucious, or what ever you call him; but the story in the movie is far from the truth... Rome never returned to it's status as a republic after the rise of Ceaser's dynesty.

 

But we don't care about that! That opening battle sequece will go down as one of the best, adrenaline charges, of movie history. It was shot in England in a town called Farnham, just out side of London; where my mum was born and raised. There's a castle there, and apparently, the film production company paid masses amounts of money in the the 'clear up' after the shoot... in which most of the extras were British Soldiers from the Home of the British Army, Aldershot, the next town down the road. There's a famous castle in Farnham that overlooks where they shot the opening battle sequence. I used to go there as a child with my mum and granny.

[ElvisMiggell]

Hmmmm, well, historically it's vaguely accurate. Marcus Aurelius definitely existed, and did die in Germania over-seeing his troups. His son was alleged to have been insane, but Maximus as far as we know, didn't exist.

 

The battle itself is realistic in terms of troop deployments and tactics. But flaming arrows would not have flown so far etc. So essentially accurate for the opening battle, but with exagerrations necessary to meet Hollywood requirements.

[glandry]

Hi Scathane, I'm not a historian, so I don't really know, but that opening scene is one of the best I've ever seen. If anything, I expect that the reality was much more chaotic and bloody. Usually war movies are much more tame than the real thing. Some movies, like Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan, and Gladiator really try to show us what a battle looked like, but I suspect that in reality they are a lot bloodier. I don't know why hollywood is so eager to show us blood and guts in slasher horror flicks, but tend to dumb down war movies.

 

By the way, I rented Enemy at the Gates the other night and I thought it was excellent. Not many huge battle scenes, but a whole lot of people getting shot in the head. Seemed pretty realistic to me.

[SOCL]

--The Imperator's of BEAK turn--

 

Interesting you bring this up, Scath, because I recently taught a class and one of the biggest questions that continuously came up was whether or not Gladiator was accurate. Well...

 

The opening scene was accurate to certain points, like Elvis said. The deployment of troops, the formations, the weapons, etc were correct. Now, the distance the arrows went was a tad exageratted, but not unrealistic, just not within normal range. Additionally, the fire arrows were lit by a small fire they all had in front of the line. That is not a fact, but it is not known how Roman arhcers lit their arrows. Odds are, they probably did not use too many flaming arrows due to how difficult it would have been to be continiously lighting arrows, but there is nothing to say they didn't do it.

 

The characters were mostly accurate:

-Ed Harris played Emperor Marcus Auerlius who ruled from 161-180 AD (C.E.) who in fact died in Germania (which many historians claim was the true end of Pax Romana). He ruled alongside Emperor Lucius Verus who ruled from 161-166 AD (C.E.)...the boy was the son of Verus.

-The Senators named in the movie existed, but not during that exact time.

-Joaquin Phoenix played Emperor Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus who ruled from 180-192 AD (C.E.). This emperor thought himself to be the reincarnation of Hercules and so did, in fact, fight against gladiators (and would win), but he was not killed by one, instead he was assasinated by an athelete named Narcissus while he was in his bath.

-Russel Crowe plays the character named Maximus Decimus Meridius, who did not exist.

-After the death of Commodus the Roman state did not return to a republic, but remained an empire and would next be ruled by Emperor Pertinax.

 

Any other questions, ask, but lets put it this way: Gladiator is accurate in the general idea, but the specific details are either fiction or exageratted to make the story seem more interesting.

 

Here are a few good websites for information on Roman history:

-De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors
-The Roman Army Page
-LacusCurtius: A Gateway to Ancient Rome
-HANNIBAL BARCA (commentary on the Punic Wars included)

 

If you liked Gladiator and like Roman historical fiction, look for The Tribune by Patrick Larkin, it's quite accurate and quite good.

 

Hope all of that helps.

[Guest Scathane]

Well, I'm glad this thread receives so much attention... I hadn't really expected that... Any other interesting 'historically accurate' movies you guys know about?

[SOCL]

Well, I'm glad this thread receives so much attention... I hadn't really expected that... Any other interesting 'historically accurate' movies you guys know about?

Well, actually, I have a question that will contribute to Scath's question and has a (probably) long story behind it. Here goes...

 

Today, I was teaching a class (still teaching Roman history) and the class went without a problem. Then, as is usual, I ended the class with a question session. No questions, none at all...then he asked it. The same kid who had asked about how accurate Gladiator was a few days ago asked: "Who accurate is the movie Spartacus?"

Da-du-dum.

Well, for once, I was at a loss for answers. Luckily the bell rung just as I came into my tenth second of silence, so I cooly told him: "I'll answer your question tomorrow. Have a nice day, class."

And so, the point to that story is: How accurate is the movie Spartacus? Not that I wouldn't be able to figure it out on my own (not to sound conceited or anything), but the last time I saw the movie was many years ago and I can't find a copy to buy or rent. So, please, someone help...quickly!

[the_mask]

Sorry, but the one time I saw it was probably even longer ago than when you did. I just remember some barechested guys and one particular (Spartacus himself ?) runnig forever to deliver a message. I think the message was of an imminent attack by the Trojans, but I could be wrong.

He should have used his mobile, would've been a lot faster

[SOCL]

Sorry, but the one time I saw it was probably even longer ago than when you did. I just remember some barechested guys and one particular (Spartacus himself ?) runnig forever to deliver a message. I think the message was of an imminent attack by the Trojans, but I could be wrong.

He should have used his mobile, would've been a lot faster

Yikes, man, you must be thinking of a different movie (perhaps about the Trojan War, though the Trojans never attacked anyone....). You see, what you're talking about is ancient Micenean/Greek history...Spartacus is Roman. I can see the confusion: the city-state of Sparta and the gladiator Spartacus.

The guy running makes me think of the runner who ran from the battlefield all the way to Athens, ran into the city square, shouted "Nike!" ("victory" in Greek), and then "kicked the bucket." I think that was one of the Persian Wars, but I don't quite recall....