 Mine is Gladiator!Gladiator is a 2000 historical adventure film directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. It won five Academy Awards in the 73rd Academy Awards ceremony, including the 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 historical inaccuracies. Nonetheless, it is considered a classic among many, because of its epic nature, vivid battles, and praised direction from Ridley Scott. It is also credited with reviving the genre of the historical epic, leading to films like Troy, Alexander and Kingdom of Heaven, the latter also being directed by Ridley Scott.
Contents[hide]
1 Plot
2 Production
3 Cast
3.1 Trivia
4 Influences
4.1 Historical
4.2 Artistic
5 Awards
6 References
7 See also
8 External links
[edit] Plot
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
A farmer-turned-soldier named Maximus Decimus Meridius (played by Russell Crowe) is one of the leading 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 (played by Richard Harris). The emperor is dying, and though he has a son, Commodus (played by Joaquin Phoenix), the emperor wishes to appoint temporary leadership to Maximus in order to return the power to the Senate. On being told this by his father, Commodus kills him to inherit the position by default. Because he realizes the truth of what has happened, Maximus is sentenced to death. Soldiers are also sent for his wife and son. Maximus, however, escapes his fate and races home only to find that he was too late, and his family has been killed. After burying his wife and son, Maximus is captured by slavers and taken to North Africa. There, he is forced to fight as a gladiator in arena tournaments in order to stay alive. During this time, he meets the Numidian gladiator, Juba, and a barbarian from Germania named Hagen. Juba proves to be a great comfort to him, and they often talk of the afterlife, and if they will meet their dead family and friends there.
To survive the brutal life of a gladiator, Maximus appeals to the Roman people under the name and title, "Spaniard". His power and fame grows until he ultimately reaches the historic Roman Colosseum and comes into contact again with his true enemy, Commodus. Although it is revealed to Commodus that the famous "Spaniard" is in fact Maximus, the emperor is forced to let him live due to his popularity with 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," Tigris of Gaul. After an intense battle, where Maximus must avoid being killed by tigers released into the arena, Tigris is defeated, though Maximus refuses to obey Commudus' wish to kill him, and is pronounced 'Maximus the Merciful' by a spectator in the crowd.
Following the fight, Maximus meets with his former servant, Cicero, who informs him that his army is still loyal to him. Soon thereafter, Maximus forms a plot with Lucilla, Commodus' sister, and Gracchus, an influential republican senator, to rejoin with his army and topple Commodus by force. Commodus, however, learns of this plot and arrests Maximus on the eve of his coup. Now desperate to defeat Maximus, Commodus arranges a duel with him in the arena. Though he stabs Maximus with his dagger before the fight begins, Maximus emerges victorious by killing Commodus but dies also soon after, but not before ordering that governance be returned to the Senate. Through this last gesture, the original wish of Marcus Aurelius is finally realized.
|
