Gladiator is a 2000 historical epic directed by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Moeller, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, and Richard Harris. Crowe portrays the loyal General Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed when the Emperor's ambitious son, Commodus (Phoenix), murders his father and seizes the throne. Reduced to slavery, Maximus rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena to avenge the murder of his family and his Emperor.
Released in the United States on May 5, 2000, it was a box office success, receiving generally positive reviews, and was credited with briefly reviving the historical epic. The film was nominated for and won multiple awards; it won five Academy Awards in the 73rd Academy Awards including Best Picture. Although there have been talks of both a prequel and sequel, as of 2010, no production has begun.
Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius, a native of Hispania, leads the Roman army to victory against Germanic barbarians in the year A.D. 180, ending a prolonged war, and earning the esteem of elderly Emperor Marcus Aurelius. As the battle ends, the son and daughter of the Emperor, Commodus and Lucilla, arrive from Rome. As the surviving soldiers pay tribute to Maximus, Commodus arrives, attempting to curry favor with his father. Aurelius, however, favors Maximus over his son, which makes Commodus both envious and suspicious.
Knowing that his time is short, the dying Aurelius decides to appoint leadership to the morally-upstanding Maximus, with a desire to eventually return power to the Roman Senate, effectively reviving the Republic. Aurelius speaks to Maximus before telling Commodus of his decision. After expressing that his greatest desire is to return home to his family, Maximus reluctantly accepts the appointment as a duty to Rome and then returns to his tent to pray over small clay figures of his wife and son, asking the gods to watch over them in his absence. The Emperor later informs Commodus who, in a fit of rage, murders his father. Declaring himself the emperor, Commodus asks Maximus for his loyalty, which Maximus, realizing Commodus is responsible for the Emperor's death, refuses. On Commodus' instruction, Quintus, a fellow General, orders Maximus' execution and dispatches Praetorian Guards to kill his wife and son. Maximus narrowly escapes by killing his captors, but is injured in the process. Taking the horses of the now dead Praetorians, he races home only to discover his wife and son hanging amidst the smoldering ruins of his home. After burying his family, Maximus collapses from grief and exhaustion.
Slave traders find Maximus and take him to Zucchabar, a rugged Roman province in North Africa, where he is purchased by Antonius Proximo, the head of a gladiator school and a former gladiator himself. Maximus initially refuses to fight, but as he defends himself in the arena his formidable combat skills lead to a rise in popularity with the audience and respect among his fellow fighters. Known as "The Spaniard", he trains and fights further and befriends Juba, a Numidian hunter and Hagen, a Germanic warrior who, until Maximus' emergence, was Proximo's prized gladiator.
During quiet periods between fights, Maximus and Juba develop their friendship further, discussing their families and homelives before they became slaves. Juba tells Maximus that he does not expect to see his family again before he dies in combat and Maximus confesses to Juba that the wife and son of which he spoke are already dead. Both men draw courage with which to face the prospect of death, from their shared belief that they will meet their families again in the afterlife, "but not yet".
In Rome, Commodus reopens the gladiatorial games to pay tribute to his father and gain the favor of the people; Proximo's gladiators are hired to participate. Proximo informs Maximus who sees this as an opportunity to get close enough to Commodus to exact revenge. Later in Rome during a reenactment of the Battle of Zama from the Second Punic War, Maximus dons a helmet to hide his identity and then leads Proximo's gladiators, in the guise of Hannibal's forces, to a decisive victory against a more powerful force who are in the guise of Scipio Africanus' legions, in a battle they were historically slated to lose. Echoing the shock and amazement of the crowd, the Emperor descends into the arena accompanied by his nephew Lucius to meet this "Spaniard". He asks The Spaniard for his name and Maximus responds with a blatant act of defiance. Commodus angrily instructs him to remove his helmet and tell him his name. A seething Maximus reveals his identity and defiantly vows vengeance for the murder of his family. Unable to kill Maximus because of the crowd's approval for him, Commodus leaves the arena as the crowd roars and chants Maximus' name.
Lucilla, after seeing Maximus alive, secretly arranges to meet with him. Maximus angrily accuses her of taking part in her father's and his family's murders which she denied. Lucilla tells Maximus that she has powerful allies in the Senate who want to see Commodus overthrown and asks Maximus for his aid in helping to overthrow her brother to which he refuses.
As the games continue the next day, Commodus pits Maximus against Tigris of Gaul, Rome's only undefeated gladiator, in an arena surrounded by chained tigers. Despite being nearly mauled by the beasts, Maximus defeats the larger and more powerful Tigris but refuses to kill him, thereby deliberately insulting Commodus by directly defying his orders. The crowd cheers Maximus, bestowing him the title "Maximus The Merciful". Commodus becomes more frustrated at his inability to kill Maximus, let alone stop his soaring popularity.
Maximus is later found by his former servant, Cicero, who reveals that Maximus's army remains loyal to him. Maximus forms a plot with Lucilla and Senator Gracchus to rejoin his army to return to Rome and overthrow Commodus. Suspecting his sister's betrayal, Commodus indirectly threatens her young son, Lucius, and forces her to reveal the plot. Praetorian guards immediately arrest Gracchus and storm Proximo's gladiator barracks, battling the gladiators while Maximus escapes. Hagen and Proximo are killed in the siege while Juba and the survivors are imprisoned. Maximus escapes to the city walls only to witness Cicero's death and be captured by a legion of Praetorian guards.
The next day, Commodus challenges a bound and restrained Maximus to a duel to be fought in front of a full audience in the Colosseum. Acknowledging Maximus as the better fighter, Commodus stabs him in the back with a stiletto and has the wound concealed. In the arena, the weakened Maximus fights purely on instinct as the two exchange blows before Maximus rips the sword from Commodus' hands. As Commodus screams for another sword, Quintus orders the Praetorians not to assist him. A stricken Maximus drops his own sword. Commodus pulls the hidden stiletto and renews his attack but Maximus counters, pummeling him with hard punches. The two of them grapple for a few moments, until Maximus finally forces Commodus' hand backwards, plunging the stiletto in his throat. Commodus falls dead in the now-silent Colosseum while a dying Maximus begins seeing visions of the afterlife and his family. He is pulled back to reality by Quintus, who asks for instructions.
Maximus orders the release of Juba and the rest of Proximo's surviving gladiators and the reinstatement of Senator Gracchus, instructing him to return Rome to a republican government. Maximus quietly dies in Lucilla's arms as his soul wanders into the afterlife to his family. Lucilla reminds everyone that Maximus was a soldier of Rome and that his memory should be honored. Juba, Senator Gracchus, Quintus, and Proximo's gladiators gently carry his body out of the Colosseum, leaving Commodus behind unwept.
That night, Juba returns to an empty Colosseum and buries Maximus' figures of his wife and son in the blood stained sand where Maximus fell, vowing to see him again in the afterlife, "but not yet". Juba then departs for his homeland and his own family.
No comments:
Post a Comment