Historical Movie Review : Gladiator (2000)

A dying Marcus Aurelius, the extraordinary sovereign of Rome chooses to declare his unwavering and bold General Maximus Decimus Meridius as his successor so as to reestablish the intensity of the Roman Senate as he feels that his very own child Commodus isn’t fit to be a ruler, yet. Commodus became more acquainted with about this and slaughtered his very own father to guarantee his way to the position of royalty, such was his brutality.
He needed Maximus to be executed however he get away, yet is sold into bondage and is compelled to turn into a fighter. In the end, Maximus and his fellow warriors are sent to Rome to perform for Commodus. This paper seeks to learn about how the lives of people living in the Roman empire is depicted in the movie and find out the similarities and the distinctions between what is portrayed in the movie and that of historical facts and then derive conclusions from the analysis that is to be done after gathering and presenting information on the subject.
Introduction

In Gladiator, the triumphant general Maximus has been named specialist of the Roman Empire by Marcus, with the objective that the basic leadership power can go from the Caesars back to the Senate. At any rate Marcus’ capacity hungry kid Commodus wishes to win to the situation of sovereignty, along these lines he takes an interest in butchering his father and attempts to execute Maximus. In the wake of fail to execute Maximus, Commodus repels him by butchering his family.
This by then prompts Maximus losing his status as the safeguard of Rome and the general of the military. He by then gets captured and traded as a slave, where he transformed into a warrior. Heading off to the field in Rome, Commodus remembered him as a remarkable warrior and solicitations to meet this contender.
Subsequent to understanding that it was Maximus, Commodus comprehends that his status is under hazard and impacts the gathering, who still remained on Maximus’ side. In order to search for retribution and to remove the savage organization of Commodus, Maximus teamed up with the Senate and Lucilla (Commodus’ sister). This by then lead to the last battle among Maximus and Commodus in which Maximus defeats Commodus, inciting his destruction.
Presently Maximus enabled over to the senate as the dead head Marcus wanted, after this Maximus kicks the bucket. We will break down it from a chronicled viewpoint, theoritical, just as from the reasonable perspective. We will likewise profoundly inspect the different characters in the motion picture, primarily, Commodus and Maximus. We will likewise think about the period in which the motion picture is set.
Movie Reviews
1) 10/10  ‘Breathtaking’
By and by, Director Ridley Scott demonstrates to be as expert as one can be. The amusement of antiquated Rome is astonishing, with all its superb structures and environment and he can appear with all brilliance the significance of the Roman Empire, with its political issues and military order, and love and treachery, of loathe and desire, that still have a spot in our present reality.
Be that as it may, the story has its very own gleam, to which all the wonderful view (trust me, it’s awesome!!!) and extraordinary cinematography are simply adjusting variables. The plot is a rich one, that is as powerful as it is available. He by and by, after Blade Runner, 1492, and others encourages us visit the profundities of the human spirit, which continues as before over the entirety of our verifiable and social experience.
Indeed, even the battles, are shown so that all the blood is very discrete, yet, making us crave shouting and hopping out of our seats. I might likewise want to call attention to the exhibitions of the cast, that is shockingly great. We have a few entertainers and on-screen characters, who are not Hollywood symbols, however are extraordinarily ready to move the group of spectators among shouts and tears. With everything taken into account, we have folks like Russel Crowe, who are turning out to be a piece of another and amazingly encouraging harvest of individuals who are making each time more fans the world over. All things considered, you should see with your own eyes!
2) 9/10 “Gladiator”
When you go to the remains of Rome now, you get actually no feeling of the scale and the greatness of what that discussion would have been. It’s difficult to go anyplace with the exception of from a portion of the extraordinary epic movies of the past like “Quo Vadis,” “Ben-Hur,” “Demetrius and the Gladiators,” “Barabbas,” and “The Fall of the Roman Empire.”
Scott’s “Fighter” is work around a mythic character, a man attempting to discover his direction home… It is around somebody finding inward quality in an extreme time. Maximus is someone who wouldn’t like to be an officer. We understand this is a man who is seeking after a definitive which is rising above death and discovering love after death which totally changes your response to the man, a man who is extremely, solid yet incredibly, adoring.
The plot, commonplace from Anthony Mann’s ” Fall of the Roman Empire,” had Crowe as Maximus, the glad well-adored Roman general in the military of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris). Maximus whose aphorism is ‘Quality and Honor’ resembles a child to Aurelius, an explanation that left Aurelius’ own child, Commodus annoyed…
Baffled by the news that his dad secretly chooses to name Maximus his successor, and being a youthful driven child craving for power, he kills his dad, and requests a negative mark against the general… Perhaps the best scene of the movie is the place Commodus is told by his dad that he won’t be the sovereign. Joaquin Phoenix is anything but difficult to detest in a startling and despicable character…
Ridley Scott makes a great deal of excellent scenes between the characters. He did some awesome work in those magnificent scenes in the film. In any case, there’s another minute between the ruler and his girl Lucilla (the Danish excellence Connie Nielsen) that I adored without a doubt. Harris says, “We should not discuss governmental issues. Give us a chance to imagine that you are an adoring little girl and I’m a decent dad. ” They stroll for a couple of moments and Lucilla says, “This is a charming fiction.” I felt this short scene so complex. It appeared to me brilliantly quick, basic as far as measure of words, yet complex as far as understanding this unusual relationship.
One of the best bits of throwing was Oliver Reed. He’s an unforgiving and unpleasant representative who makes his living off the demise machine but then, inside, there was some sort of moral individual that would turn out at the correct minute.
Ridley Scott’s epic film does not romanticize a popularity based Golden Age of Rome but rather a rotting, murderous domain on the edge of its fall… Through its lovely music, through Russell’s presentation and through Ridley’s heartfelt quality, “Warrior” acquired a graceful vision another and in all respects artistically luxuriously way that truly gave the crowd something else, so passionate thus cozy.
Geographical Background
The movie is set in Rome in AD 120, the historic city of Rome is located in the central-western part of the Italian Peninsula on the banks of the Tiber River in the Lazio region of Italy. Since this movie portrays ancient Roman period. Rome at that point of time had different geographical location than it has now.
Ancient Rome is situated in Italy, Europe, close to the Mediterranean Sea. Italy is 600 miles in length and 150 miles wide. The waterways are the Adriatic Sea, Ionian Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. The various streams are Tiber River, and Po River. Danube, and Rhine waterway, Nile stream, Black ocean, Euphrates, Tigris waterway Along the western part from Italy, lie three fields regions are the Tuscan Plains in the north, depleted by the Po River, were ripe cultivating region.
The water supply of new water is basic for all life individuals creatures and harvests. The waterway give intends to exchange and transportation. The insurance the Rome was constructed 15 miles inland on the peak of seven slopes secured with woodlands of oak and chestnut. Legend and reality formed Romeʼs early history. Romeʼs topography energized the development of Roman human progress. Roman culture profited by the diligent work and control of Roman ranchers.
Roman boats could sail to different grounds encompassing Mediterranean aided in vanquishing new domains, creating exchange courses Alps, Apennines mountains ensured Rome, yet did not separate it. Italyʼs huge fields made cultivating simpler than in Greece. (The Geography of Ancient Rome).
Ancient Rome crops 90% of the Romans lived by farming. Farms grew wheat, Rye, barley, olives, and grapes. The Rome’s ate a lot of bread, olives, asparagus, small birds, and grapes. Celery was the most green popular green vegetable. They made cheesecake, which included eggs and ricotta cheese.
In the beginning of the eighth century B.C., Ancient Rome was a small town of Italy near the Tiber River. The empire peak was mostly Europe, Britain, western Asia northern Africa and the Mediterranean islands. The languages spoken Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian. “After 450 years as a republic, Rome became an empire in the wake of Julius Caesar’s rise and fall in the first century B.C.” (History Channel) The movie was filmed in England, Morocco and Malta with reconstructions of Ancient Roman cities and sights made specially for the production. However, two of the most important scenes from the film were actually filmed in the Orcia Valley in Tuscany.
Objective
The point of taking up Gladiator as a theme is to see if the film delineates reality of the Roman empire as it was in those days in the bygone era outline. It wishes to discover about the social conditions prevailing during that timeframe and furthermore to see whether the movie portrayed the truth of the lords and rulers in Roman empire.
Methods
Data collection is the systematic approach to gathering and measuring information from a variety of sources to get a complete and accurate picture of an area of interest.  There are two main methods of data collection, Primary Data collection and Secondary Data collection. Primary data is information that is gathered by a scientist from direct sources, utilizing strategies like studies, meetings, or trials. It is collected with the research project in mind, directly from primary sources.
Secondary information is information accumulated from studies, overviews, or trials that have been controlled by other individuals or for other research. The information accumulation technique utilized here is Secondary method of information gathering. And the secondary source here is the motion picture ‘Gladiator (2000)’.
The information here is gathered by interpreting the different scenes in the film such like the colosseum battle scenes among Maximus and others and furthermore different combatants, and also the melancholic Maximus when his significant other and child are killed by the soldiers of Commodus. These are instances of certain scenes from where we have gathered our secondary information.
Analysis
We will investigate the characters of the movie and that of the genuine chronicled figures and perceive how much precision is in it.
Marcus Aurelius – He was a philosopher king and was the last of the rulers traditionally known as the “Five Good Emperors”. He was the son of the praetor Marcus Annius Verus (III) and the wealthy heiress Domitia Lucilla. He was brought up by his grandfather after the unfortunate death of his father.
But the film would have us accept the fact that Marcus Aurelius wanted to restore the Roman Empire to a Republic and Commodus, his rejected child, killed him. As a general rule, the sovereign spoiled his child, raised him to co-ruler in 177 and, when Marcus Aurelius passed on in 180 (most likely of plague), the senate and armed force excitedly acclaimed Commodus as head.
Commodus – His full name is Lucius Aurelius Commodus, he was the son of Marcus Aurelius, great the Roman emperor. During his father’s rule, he went with him during the Marcomannic Wars in 172 and on a voyage through the Eastern territories in 176. He was made the most youthful consul in Roman history in 177 and soon thereafter raised to co-head with his dad. He was nineteen when he expected the diadem and, in a typical boyish manner, rejected everything his dad represented.
The movie picture really tidied up a portion of his mass – Gibbon dates the Decline from Commodus’ rule. Among his numerous overabundances he renamed Rome “Colony of Commodus,” kept many ladies and young men for his sexual joy, and executed rich men to seize their property.
He likewise battled as a fighter more than multiple times, however incredible the field every one of his rivals were excessively terrified of harming him and being executed. In the wake of ruling thirteen years, his familiars turned out to be so apprehensive, his preferred courtesan harmed him and a wrestler choked him in his debilitated condition.
Maximus Decimus Meridius – Now we will analyze the protagonist of the movie, the gladiator i.e none other than Maximus. The valiant general turned slave of Rome renders retribution for the murder of his family by crushing lastly murdering Commodus in a gladiatorial battle. But the thing is Maximus did not exist.
Commodus executed two well-respected siblings named Maximus and Condianus who filled in as Roman Consuls in 151, however there is no record of a General Maximus also from Spain. An ex-fighter named Maternus may have propelled some portion of the story. He assembled groups of defectors, tore open detainment facilities, and prompted captives to revolt.
He gathered these men and turned them into a military which threatened the rich urban areas of Gaul and Spain at that point split up his men and sent them in mask over the Alps to Rome. Maternus intended to kill Commodus and assume control over the position of royalty during the wild celebration respecting Cybele. He was double-crossed and executed.
This movie showed us the slavery condition during the ancient times, how people were sold and treated like animals. In contrast to Roman residents, they could be exposed to beating, sexual abuse (whores were regularly slaves), torment and summary execution ( executed without a proper trial ) .
Caste hierarchy was also present in the Roman empire – primarily three main groups of the Roman republic existed, they are the patricians, plebeians, and slaves. The patricians are the most noteworthy and wealthiest of the social classes. The movie also showed us how pitiful the conditions of the gladiators were ( The gladiators were armed personals who entertained people in the colosseum in the state of Rome in the early times.
They were made to fight wild animals, criminals, their lives belonged to the emperor. Most were despised as slaves, schooled under harsh conditions, socially marginalized, and segregated even in death. They were an example of extreme valour, Roman martial arts and were celebrated in high and low art as well ) .
Conclusion
From the above analysis we can see that the roles the characters played were mostly fictious but nonetheless the characters were real. As it was analysed hitherto that the social conditions of the people belonging to the lower part of the Roman hierarchy was not very good as they had minimal rights and the Roman aristocrats exploited them for their own benefits hereby concluding that there was inequality in the Roman empire.