Gladiator (film)
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Gladiator is a 2000 movie directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. It won five Academy Awards in the 73rd Academy Awards ceremony, including the prestigious Academy Award for Best Picture. Gladiator is a critically acclaimed and commercially successful film but, like most films based in antiquity, it was criticized by historians for its (abundant) inaccuracies . Nonetheless, it is considered a classic among many, because of its epic nature, beautiful setting, vivid battles, and praised direction from Ridley Scott. Some feel it is Crowe's defining performance. It is also referred to for making the classical epic popular again, leading to films like Troy and Kingdom of Heaven (incidentally, the latter was also directed by Ridley Scott).
Plot
A farmer-turned-soldier by the name of Maximus Decimus Meridius (played by Russell Crowe) is one of the top generals in the Roman army. He leads his men to many victories and gains the support from the masses and even the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. The emperor is dying, and because he trusts Maximus over his only son Commodus (played by Joaquin Phoenix), the emperor appoints temporary leadership to Maximus in order to return the power to the Senate. When Commodus realizes what is about to happen, he murders his father in order to acquire the position through being next in line. At the same moment, he also orders his men to murder Maximus before he can claim his rightful positions; he also orders the murder of his family. Maximus escapes his fate and gallops to his home only to find that he was too late, and his family has been slaughtered. Maximus is taken by slavers as he sleeps by his family's grave, where he is forced to fight as a gladiator in various arena tournaments in order to stay alive. To gain success and power, he appeals to the Roman people, under the name and title, "Spaniard". His power and fame continue to grow until he finally reaches the historic Roman Colosseum and comes into contact again with his true enemy, Commodus. When realising that the famous "Spaniard" is his arch enemy, Commodus is forced to let him live due to the cries of the crowd. Maximus later survives an indirect attack on his life when he is forced into a match against the "only undefeated champion in Roman History."
At one point, Maximus makes an attempt to rejoin his army and execute a coup on the city of Rome. However the emperor gains knowledge of this by means of his eight year old nephew and the coup fails. Commodus then realises that he has to get rid of Maximus, and arranges a fight with him in the arena but stabs him before the match starts. Maximus still manages to kill him but dies soon after, passing on the wishes of Marcus Aurelius.
Production
Overall, Gladiator cost a collected $145.7 million to film and promote, with most of the production costs spent on computer special effects. However, the movie grossed over $187 million in American theaters alone and after earning more than $269 million overseas, Gladiator proved to be a huge success at the box office[#endnote_mojo].
Actor Oliver Reed died in Malta during the filming of Gladiator; as a result, a body double and digitally altered outtake footage of the actor were used in his absence, at an estimated cost of $3 million. The film is dedicated to his memory.
Gladiator received more positive reviews than negative ones, but it was not without its share of detractors. In particular Roger Ebert was harshly critical of the film attacking the look of the film as "muddy, fuzzy, and indistinct." He also derided the writing saying that it "employs depression as a substitute for personality, and believes that if characters are bitter and morose enough, we won't notice how dull they are."
The soundtrack was composed by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard, and conducted by Gavin Greenaway. Most of the film was shot in Morocco and Malta where a replica of the Colosseum was built. The battle scene early in the film was shot in England.
Cast
- Russell Crowe - Maximus
- Joaquin Phoenix - Commodus
- Connie Nielsen - Lucilla
- Richard Harris - Marcus Aurelius
- Oliver Reed - Proximo
- Derek Jacobi - Senator Gracchus
- John Shrapnel - Gaius
- Djimon Hounsou - Juba, named after the ancient African king
- Spencer Treat Clark - Lucius Verus, fictional son of the factual Lucius Verus and Lucilla
- Ralf Moeller - Hagan
- Sven-Ole Thorsen - Tigris of Gaul
- Tommy Flanagan - Cicero, Maximus' servant, named after the orator.
Trivia
- The four British veteran screen and classical stage actors (Shrapnel, Jacobi, Harris and Reed) were jokingly referred to by Crowe during filming as 'our four horsemen of the Apocalypse'Diana Landau, Gladiator: The Making of the Ridley Scott Epic, p50, and their English accent is often copied in the film by the American and Australian actors in order to merge in.
Influences
Historical
The Roman emperors portrayed in the movie are Marcus Aurelius (played by Richard Harris), who ruled AD 161–180, and his son, the deranged Commodus, who ruled between 180–192, and scandalized Roman society by appearing in the Colosseum as a gladiator, and spent most, if not all, of his time as Emperor in staging gladiatorial combats, seemingly obsessed with the sport. The film's characterization attempts to reflect Marcus Aurelius's reputation for wisdom but does so by placing a modern democratic slant to his actions and beliefs. The representation of Commodus is extremely watered down, as the (possibly biased, senatorial) sources such as the Augustan History present Commodus as far more insane and bloodthirsty than he appears in the film. While Commodus was the only Roman Emperor to fight as a gladiator (discounting reports of Caligula having done the same, as there is no record outside of Suetonius that he ever did so), he was killed by a gladiator, but not in the arena, as the film suggests.
Lucilla was Commodus’s sister and was married to Lucius Verus (mentioned in the film as the dead father of her son Lucius Verus, but not mentioned as co-emperor or seen), her father’s co-emperor until his death in 169. The incest, or attempted incest, in the movie is not historically accurate. Lucilla was in fact implicated in plots with members of the senate to kill her brother. In 182, following an assassination attempt on Commodus, Lucilla was exiled to Capri and subsequently executed on her brother’s orders.
The opening battle most likely is intended to depict the last fight of the Marcomannic wars. Nearing the end of the battle, Maximus inexplicably raises the cry 'Roma Victor,' meaning 'Rome, the Conqueror.' (Greco-Roman culture often anthropomorphized aspects of civilzation and nature in order to depict them as gods/goddesses to be recognized. Case in point: Rome as a female entity and/or deity.)
The city of Rome is seen in all of its glory, and the Colosseum (then actually called the Flavian Amphitheatre) is accurately seen as the stadium for the Roman people, though the topography, views and ground plan of ancient city-centre Rome around it are entirely fictionalised and owe much to Leni Riefenstahl.
The character of Maximus is entirely fictional, though he is similar in some respects to the historical figures of Narcissus (the character's name in the first draft of the screenplay and the real killer of Commodus), Spartacus (who led a significant slave revolt), and Cincinnatus (the saviour of Rome who wished nothing more than to return to his farm).
Artistic
The film's plot basically comes from two 1960s films of Hollywood's sword and sandal genre, The Fall of the Roman Empire and Spartacus.The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) tells the story of Livius, who, like Maximus in Gladiator, is Marcus Aurelius's heir. Both films tell the story of Commodus' murder of Marcus Aurelius and his seizure of power when he learns that the old emperor is planning to appoint Livius/Maximus as his successor. Livius/Maximus are exiled and seek to avenge Marcus Aurelius by killing Commodus.
Spartacus (1960) provides the film's gladiatorial motif, as well as the character of Senator Gracchus, a fictitious senator (bearing the name of a pair of revolutionary Tribunes from the 2nd century BC) who in both films is an elder statesman of ancient Rome attempting to preserve the ancient rights of the Roman senate in the face of an ambitious autocrat — Marcus Licinius Crassus in Spartacus and Commodus in Gladiator. Interestingly, Gracchus was played in Spartacus by Charles Laughton, who played Claudius in the 1937 film I, Claudius, while he was played in Gladiator by Sir Derek Jacobi, who played Claudius in the 1975 BBC adaptation.
The story of Maximus bears similiarity to Judah Ben-Hur. Both are accused of treason to the Roman Empire, becoming a slave and rising through the ranks, desiring vengeance and finding new life, be it Christian or pagan.
Additionally, Maximus, Quintus and other characters, as well as the opening sequence of the film (set in Germany), appear to be based on a work of historical fiction by Wallace Breem, Eagle in the Snow (set some 200 years later).
The film's depiction of Commodus's entry into Rome borrows imagery from Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will (1934), although Ridley Scott has pointed out that the iconography of Nazi rallies was of course inspired by the Roman Empire.
Awards
Gladiator was nominated in 36 individual ceremonies, including the 73rd Academy Awards, the BAFTA Awards and the Golden Globe Awards. Of 119 award nominations, the film won 48 prizes[#endnote_awards].The film won five Academy Awards and was nominated for an additional seven, including Best Supporting Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Director for Ridley Scott. There is controversy over the film's nomination for Best Original Music Score. The award was officially nominated only to Hans Zimmer, and not to Lisa Gerrard due to Academy rules. However, the pair did win the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score as co-composers.
- 73rd Academy Awards
- *Best Picture
- *Best Actor (Russell Crowe)
- *Best Visual Effects
- *Best Costume Design
- *Best Sound
- BAFTA Awards
- *Best Cinematography
- *Best Editing
- *Best Film
- *Best Production Design
- Golden Globe Awards
- *Best Motion Picture - Drama
- *Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama (Russell Crowe)
- *Best Original Score - Motion Picture
References
- ↑ [Gladiator total gross] at Box Office Mojo
- ↑ [Gladiator awards tally] at IMDB
See also
External links
- [}}}] at Rotten Tomatoes
- Gladiator's [script].
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1981: Chariots of Fire |
1982: Gandhi |
1983: Terms of Endearment |
1984: Amadeus |
1985: Out of Africa |
1986: Platoon |
1987: The Last Emperor |
1988: Rain Man |
1989: Driving Miss Daisy |
1990: Dances with Wolves |
1991: The Silence of the Lambs |
1992: Unforgiven |
1993: Schindler's List |
1994: Forrest Gump |
1995: Braveheart |
1996: The English Patient |
1997: Titanic |
1998: Shakespeare in Love |
1999: American Beauty |
2000: Gladiator
[Complete List] | [ Winners (1927–1940)] | [ Winners (1941–1960)] | [ Winners (1961–1980)] | [ Winners (2001– )]
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