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GLADIATOR
GLADIATOR takes us back to the hand to hand and sometimes hand to claw struggles in Rome’s Colosseum, once a fertile venue for Hollywood spectaculars, often with Christian martyr themes (Ben-Hur, The Robe). This retro $108 million epic directed by the gifted Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise) is more secular and political, but still impressive and at least a little bit inspiring.
The hero, Maximus (Russell Crowe, in another, more physical incarnation after his scholarly The Insider), is an idealistic general in opposition to the degenerate Emperor Commodus, who succeeded his revered father, Marcus Aurelius, about 180 A.D. Max’s beloved wife and child are brutally killed, and he barely escapes execution to fall into captivity as a gladiator. His goal is partly to get revenge but mostly to achieve Aurelius’s dream of democracy returning Rome to the people.
Since the martyrs and anti-imperialists in Rome never won, in their lifetimes anyway, most of these movies (including the secular Spartacus) have been tragic. Audiences have settled for moral victories or heavenly rewards. Scott and his notable writers, including David Franzoni (Amistad) and William Nicholson (Shadowlands), make a major contribution by fictionalizing a story for Max that makes him a winner.
He sacrifices himself in the arena but saves democracy. He is a religious man who transcends death by joining his cherished family in the afterlife in an eternal version of his beautiful country villa. (We see this happen, artfully intercut with his death.) You can argue that this vision of heaven is not exactly Christianity and Maximus is not exactly a Christian. But it is a symbolic heaven and immortality that are taken quite seriously. It will do for the purposes of art, beauty and justice.
The body count (in various murders, wars and gladiatorial combats) is high but not indulgent. Among the splendid cast, Joaquin Phoenix, despite his miserable list of vices as emperor, manages to squeeze a few drops of sympathy; Connie Nielsen is strong and tenacious as the tyrant’s healthier sister.
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