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Gladiator

  • Time Period: 180 AD
  • Location: mostly Rome, some scenes in Germania, Zucchabar, and northern Italy.
  • Released 2000

What Was Right:

  1. The best thing about Gladiator is the dirt. Finally, a movie about the past where there's a more realistic representation of exactly how dirty ancient cities must have been.
  2. The costumes of major male characters were also mostly accurate, especially those of the Senators, as well as the skimpy shifts worn by Gladiators.
  3. The battle scenes were well done overall. The Roman soldiers advanced in an accurate hoplite battle formation of interlocking shields. The scenes of hand-to-hand combat seemed accurate. During a real battle there probably wasn't time for much in the way of grandstanding; so the scenes of hacking and slaughter were more accurate than previous movies representing the time period.
  4. Maximus' statement about knowing that he would survive the Gladiatorial events because he 'knew how to please the crowd' was absolutely accurate. Battle fighting and Gladiatorial fighting of yesteryear were no more similar than are Boot Camp and the Pay-Per-View WWF Wrestling events today. Battle fighting is about working together, most Gladiatorial events were about individual prowess and the ability to entertain the crowd. If I were asked to help prepare Russell Crowe for this portion of the role, I would have sat him down to watch several hours of modern wrestling and some live (Hair Band) rock concerts. Gladiators had to be entertainers, crowd boredom was deadly.
  5. When Lucilla visits Maximus in the Gladiator's quarters, she correctly notes that wealthy matrons spent a good deal of money to spend private time with the best and most handsome Gladiators. A popular Gladiator was the rock star of his day, complete with the 'bad boy' image. Women regularly had sexual liaisons with these Gladiators, and they were given gifts in the same manner that a concubine or courtesan would receive gifts.

What Was Wrong:

  1. The first thing that I noticed that was patently wrong, and could have been easily corrected was the statement by the character Quintus who said that "Rome was founded as a Republic." This is incorrect. There is one generally accepted foundation legend: the legend of Romulus and Remus. Romulus and Remus were abandoned twins who were nursed by a wolf. Romulus ended up slaying Remus and became the first king of Rome. Regardless of whether or not a person believes the foundation legend, it is widely documented that there were at least seven kings of Rome before the time of the Republic (509 BC - 44BC or 27 BC). After this came the Empire, which is the time period that the movie was supposed to represent.
  2. When Maximus visits Marcus Aurelias (Caesar) in his tent, there are several busts of former Roman Emperors. The problem with these busts is that they aren't painted. In Roman times they would have been painted. This does sound odd, but actually the preference for polished white marble is actually a left-over from the English of Victorian times. When they'd acquire the antiques, they'd scrub off whatever was left of the ancient paint. Actually, the made-for-TV Helen of Troy did an excellent job with this historical detail. In that movie, you see that the columns of the city were painted in the muted colors that would have been possible with ancient paint.
  3. Marcus Aurelias is recorded as dying from plague symptoms, not symptoms of consumption or pneumonia.
  4. During the scene of the slaughter of Maximus' family, the child speaks a complete sentence in Modern Italian. To be sure, there were some dialects and vulgarities in the townships and areas outside of Rome. But the Tuscan dialect of Italian that is at the root of modern Italian was not formalized until the 10th century. It would have been easy to have had the child speak Latin.
  5. Lucilla's makeup was completely anachronistic. Paste-on rhinestones were a fad in 2001, but they weren't even available in 180 AD.
  6. Hand-billets were handed out prior to the Roman Gladiatorial event in the movie. This simply wasn't done at this time in Rome. Believe me, if it were done, the historians would have loved it because someone would have collected them and some would have survived. Think about it this way, the printing press had not yet been invented, so every time they needed to announce an event, they'd hire artists to create individualized posters, which would then be glued to the walls. They also used town criers to announce events to people who could not read. Although ancient Rome had the highest literacy rates of the ancient world, their literacy rates would not even come close to modern day. So most people probably found out about Gladiatorial events through town criers, or pictoral banner ads/posters.
  7. "We who are about to die salute you" is a modern fiction. Gladiators did not regularly announce this mantra to the Emperor, or the crowds. This was not a standard opening. It is recorded as being said once, to Claudius, during a mock naval battle. Claudius replied sarcastically, something to the effect of "or Maybe not." Upon hearing this mockery, they originally refused to fight, but the Praetorian guard forced them to re-create the battle.
  8. There wasn't as much death in the average Gladiatorial event as was depicted in the movie. Most of these Gladiators were too expensive to kill off since they trained anywhere from 18 months to 2 years. They were on a 5-year contract with a Lanista (Gladiatorial foreman). The fact that they were on 5 year contracts, and that many re-upped for another contract signifies that these guys weren't being slaughtered at the rate shown in the movie. Most Gladiatorial events ended in one contender being cut or beaten unconcious, but not dead.
  9. Strictly speaking, a leader of a Roman legion is called a Legatus and not a General. But I think that the choice to use the term general was appropriate for a modern movie because uninitiated audiences understand the rank of General.
  10. The case could be made for the idea that the extras in the cast were too tanned. Roman citizens were notoriously pale in comparison to their Mediterranean neighbors since the air pollution and cramped living conditions of Rome cast a darkness over the city. Only the wealthy, who held land away from the city, would have a healthy glow.
  11. Emperor Commodus was actually poisoned, then strangled to death.