Sunday, March 2, 2008

Gladiator


Lexi and I ended up watching "Gladiator" (2000) after everyone else was asleep last night. She'd never seen it. At first, she asked about it thinking it would be a good one to fall asleep by. When I heard she'd not seen it, I thought I'd watch it again with her. She didn't go to sleep. She said it was too interesting. "Gladiator," of course, is an outstanding motion picture, and it was rewarded with five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. I particularly like the fact that the philosopher-king (Caesar) Marcus Aurelius is portrayed by Richard Harris at the beginning of the film as a setup. It may be the only time a major philosopher has played any role in any action film. Russell Crowe is, of course, brilliant as the Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius. The writer plays a little fast and loose with history, as is often the case in Hollywood, but it's an interesting play on the known history. It's interesting seeing Joaquin Phoenix again in the role of Commodus Caesar after now having enjoyed his performance as Johnny Cash. He's every bit as detestable as Commodus, but I can appreciate his range as an actor better now. Perhaps my favorite line in the film is when Marcus Aurelius is made to say, "There was a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish, it was so fragile."

Never mind that it's unlikely that Marcus wanted to return power to the Senate and restore the Roman Republic. A case can be made for it, I suppose. And like with most myths, the way it's told tells more about us than about the events the myth is about. It's good that this film plays out the way we would like to remember the history.

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