10. Gladiator
The Film: Gladiator tells the story of a successful man who loses everything thanks to an evil man, and then has to fight his way back to seek revenge and obtain his freedom. This movie doesn’t go to excess with the violence as some of the more recent epic films to impress the crowds. The acting is excellent, beginning with Russell Crowe who won the Oscar for Best Actor at the 73rd Academy Awards for his amazing performance. Joaquin Phoenix is also exceptional as the evil Commodus.
What we can’t forgive about this film, however, is how its legendary director (Ridley Scott) picked a very childish finale (even though very dramatic from a cinematic point of view) in which the Caesar of Rome fights (and dies) in the arena with a common slave. Although Commodus engaged in show combat in the Colosseum, he was not killed in the arena; he was strangled in his bath by the wrestler Narcissus. Commodus reigned for over twelve years, unlike the shorter period portrayed in the film.
The Historical Events: Although the character of Maximus is completely fictional, Commodus and Marcus Aurelius are not. The story is loosely based on real events that occurred within the Roman Empire in the latter half of the 2nd century AD. As Ridley Scott wanted to portray Roman culture more accurately than in any previous film, he hired several historians as advisors. Nevertheless, some deviations from historical facts were made to increase interest, maintain narrative continuity, and for practical or safety reasons. For example, costumes in the film are not historically accurate, while some of the soldiers wear fantasy helmets.
For all its historical flaws, the movie depicts accurately a lot of things as well though. Marcus Aurelius was indeed Commodus’s father, even though he wasn’t murdered by him like the film shows but his death was actually caused by plague. In the movie, Marcus Aurelius was mentioned to be a philosopher and he actually was. He was one of the most important Stoic philosophers and wrote mostly in Greek. Furthermore, Commodus’s reign was marked by absolutism as shown in the film since many historiographers describe him as “the Roman Hercules.
The admiration and love of Commodus for gladiators was real, with the only difference being that when he decided to challenge them in the arena, the fight was always staged so that he could always be victorious. More importantly, the recreation of the Colosseum and the games of gladiators, which compose some of the best scenes of the movie, are faithfully close to the real thing according to the many remaining historical sources.