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Caesar (mini-series)

  • Time Period: roughly 81 - 44 B.C.
  • Location: Rome, Gaul,
  • Released: 2003

Overview:

This is a good primer to the most important years of Caesar's life, leading up to his murder. However, the writers rushed through Caesar's early career during Sulla's reign and a glossing-over of the rise from Caesar to consul.

In fact, Caesar's early career was full of controversy: he was embroiled in bribery, crimes against gods, and other problems. Unfortunately too, there was little explanation about the Triumverate with which Caesar came to be consul. But all of this can be excused since this miniseries only takes on the task of showing the highlights of Julius Caesar's life.

The second half of the two-part mini-series showed much of the controversy surrounding the end of Caesar's life. The script writing was tight, but the biggest problems overriding the movie were the innacuracy of the sets since they were too clean and polished and the fact that there was too much equality between the men and women.

What Was Right:

  1. The opening scene shows a town crier making a proclamation while posters with the names of people to be killed were glued to the walls.
  2. The dyes used in the costumes look very authentic. The reddish/purple dye that distinguished a member of the aristocracy was quite good.
  3. Divorcing one's wife was a common act of loyalty expected to granted a ruler. It was a symbolic idea: leave one's family and join me. This is a similar concept to that of renouncing one's posessions; a symbolic act required by Jesus and the early Christians.
  4. The Gallic warriors were shown in a sympathetically strong light. They did a good job with showing the German tribesman.
  5. The murder of Caesar was depicted well. Caesar did die at the feet of a statue of Pompey.

What Was Wrong:

  1. Near the beginning of the movie, Julius Caesar claims that his wife was his teacher. That's a big stretch for a Roman male to make, considering the lowered status of women in the male-dominated society. Besides, Julius Caesar's teacher was the well-known Marcus Antonius Gnipho, who was also the teacher of Cicero.
  2. The streets were much too clean. Everything was too clean and bright. Rome was much dirtier due to intense population density; with both human and animal filth. The city was also much darker due to small streets, and the use of fires everywhere.
  3. Later in the first segment, Julia and Calpurnia were again shown to be equals to Pompey and Cato. Despite the fact that these women were aristocrats, they would not have considered themselves to be equals. It would have been better to show Cato and Pompeii conspiring with the women overhearing their words.
  4. The wedding ceremony was inaccurate. The bride should have been wearing a white tunic with an orange veil and orange shoes. Her tunic would have been tied off with an elaborate knot, meant to symbolize the Gordian Knot.
  5. The movie makes it sound as though Pythias arranged for Pompey's death in Egypt. Historians generally agree that King Ptolemy XIII ordered his death directly, not Pythias.
  6. Many historians agree that Cleopatra's introduction to Caesar was much more dramatic than that shown in the movie. Cleopatra arranged to have herself smuggled inside a carpet to be delivered to Caesar's room. Caesar unwrapped the carpet to find the crafty queen inside