Gladiator

The movie that is a must see in my opinion is Gladiator. This movie captivates the audience with its drama and captivating story. The music they use in the movie always tugs at my heartstrings. This movie is a historical fiction film that takes place in Ancient Rome around the time that the rule of Marcus Aurelius was coming to an end. The main character is a Roman general by the name of Maximus and he is also a good friend of Marcus Aurelius and his family. You start off with a large battle which is the end of the war with the barbarians. After this battle Marcus Aurelius’ son Commodus shows up to the battle area. Marcus Aurelius believes that his son Commodus is not a wise and just person and wants Maximus to become the emperor after his death. When Commodus finds out he kills his father and sends for Maximus to be executed for treason even though Maximus did nothing wrong. Commodus also sends for the death of Maximus’ family and we see the saddest scene of Maximus after escaping from an unjust execution found that his family was crucified and killed while his farm had been burnt down. After burying his family Maximus goes to sleep and is kidnapped by slave traders. After being kidnapped Maximus is then sold to a former gladiator named Proximo who was freed by Marcus Aurelius. While he was owned by Proximo Maximus became friends with a man named Juba and they both fought side by side in their first match in the gladiator ring.

When you see Commodus in Rome you see everything is gray in color, less saturated almost as if the life of the city has been sucked out. But when Maximus shows up with Proximo and his other gladiators to compete in the Colosseum all the colors are bright and saturated. The color red is also always seen in this movie and you hear people say that it’s the color of the gods. Commodus is always wearing black throughout the entire film showing the signature color for villains apparel for most villains are always wearing dark colors. While Maximus wears black once and the other times he is wearing relatively bright colors. When Proximo and Marcus Aurelius die they are both wearing white a color most commonly associated with the thought of purity. The color red is also important because it is the signature color of Rome and when gladiators fight and die their blood is always seen and the color of blood is red.

This movie is an amazing movie and the writers were clearly aiming for nothing less then perfect. But if I could compare this movie to any other movie that I can think about some of the movies that come to mind is Ben Hur a movie about how a man who is friends with a powerful Roman official is betrayed by the Roman official and ultimately sold in to slavery while he lost his entire family leaving him truly and completely alone. Another movie that comes to mind when I think of gladiator is The Count of Monte Cristo a movie about a man who is betrayed by his friend who ends up becoming wealthy and merrys the man’s lover while the man is sent to a prison and gets tortured for years and befriends a wise old man who tells him where he can find hidden treasure and with that treasure he goes and gets revenge on everyone who has ever wronged him.

With that I conclude this review of Gladiator. This movie is a must see and the actor Joaquin Phoenix plays Commodus. The director of the movie is Ridley Scott. This movie has also been nominated for many awards. This movie has also been given a rotten tomato score of 76%.