The gladiatorial games were a lot more chaotic and consisted of way more fatalities than. Gladiator 2 takes place over two decades after original. Historical inaccuracies of gladiator by alexandria eagle. Rather it is tainted with a bit of historical accuracy resulting it to be more difficult to discern the accuracy of the movie as it is now ambiguous for which part of the movie is unreliable and reliable.
Top 15 history ancientmedievel movies you have to watch hd doktor trax. Maximus decimus meridius russell crowe is a successful general from the battle of the danube under marcus aurelius richard harris. Since the sequel to 2000s gladiator is coming 20 years after the best picture oscar winner, it only makes sense that it will be set at least 20 years after maximus russell crowe faced down. Commodus joaquin phoenix, son of marcus aurelius, condemns meridius to probable death by sending him into the gladiatorial arena. Inaccuracies in the movie gladiator 2000 everytime the movie gladiator is mentioned it gets criticized for being inaccurate but i never see any exampel of these inaccuracies. Commodus went so far as to declare himself the new founder of rome, a new romulus.
Marcus aurelius was the emperor of rome and near his death he told maximus that he wanted the power to be shifted back to the senate, and not to his son, commodus. Everything the movie gladiator got completely wrong about history. Parkes and laurie macdonald assure fans of the swordsandsandal action movie that a followup is still gearing up. Costumes in the film are rarely historically correct. Great movie, takes place in some parallelroman universe. Director and actor mel gibsons portrayal of scotlands hero william wallace mesmerized audiences and won the movie five oscars the film is set in thcentury scotland, when wallace returns to his homeland to find it oppressed and taken over by the brutal, pagan king of england, edward i. You either get a good movie that is complete fiction gladiator, or you get an accurate movie that isnt very entertaining hannibal, i enjoy it but thats because im a historian. Historical accuracy of the gladiator in making the film gladiator 2000, director ridley scott wanted to portray the roman culture more accurately than in any previous film and to that end hired several historians as advisors. Historical accuracy of gladiator 2000 film hippie wiki fandom. Betrayed, commodus kills his father and orders maximus execution. Its possible for a movie to be historically authentic, that is it takes place in a given era, and people act the way people of that era would have acted, and the actors portray such actions realistically, but its fiction. It stars russell crowe, joaquin phoenix, connie nielsen, ralf moller, oliver reed in his final role, djimon hounsou, derek jacobi, john shrapnel, and richard harris. The architecture is historically accurate as is the portrayed roman form of government.
How historically accurate is the movie gladiator answers. The similarities the character maximus has with these historical figures leads people to the belif that maximus was a mix of them all. This area of the film is stronger than actual historical accuracy. I created this site to share my passion for ancient roman history. Even though the movie is so well done it does not mean that the story is historically accurate. How accurate a portrayal of roman gladiatorial games and culture is the movie gladiator. This isnt surprising as the makers were obviously more focused on telling a good story. Gladiator is considered one of the greatest historical epics of all time. We know that huge amounts of the movie were horribly historically inaccurate, but the movie does have a very real and interesting historical setting. In society today historical films are merely valuable to society as a form of entertainment. But what happens when that particularly popular movie tells the story of ancient romans and is not quite accurate enough to be the truth. Moviegoers reason that this is a movie, it is not meant to be an accurate representation of history, thats for a documentary or a book. Despite being a great and entertaining film, the answer is unfortunately that gladiator is extremely historically inaccurate. Gladiator was a box office hit with allstar cast as well as being loaded with fighting, action and blood galore.
There is a bunch of truth to what happens, but its spun for story sake. If you like this movie despite the inaccuracies, be sure to check out our. In the movie, maximus was romes greatest general so they just assumed he was the best around and didnt need any training. I hope you find something interesting and useful here. Gladiator sequel will be set 2030 years after original. Ancient rome specifically the roman empire, year 180 ce i wanted to look at gladiator for several reasons. Historical inaccuracies in gladiator naked history. Spartacus the movie is a genuinely inspiring story that is well told, apart from the fact that historical details are lacking almost completely, and what details there are being somewhat vague, hollywoo.
The plot goes so smooth together, as well as the acting and the terrific musical score. Gladiators historical accuracy daily history reader. Gladiator is a 2000 epic historical action drama film directed by ridley scott and written by. One of the best examples supporting this assertion is the historical film drama, which tends to educate the general public in terms of history far more effectively than any academic work or documentary effort, regardless of accuracy. Historical events have become another form of stimulus for directors when creating an engaging film for audiences. In addition to the story being wholly fictional, two of the most absurd things to me are how maximus which was also not a real roman first name is revealed to the public about halfway through the movie to actually be a thought. Roman legions from 75 ad and was superseded by a new design in 100 ad.
Gladiator 2 was first announced in november 2018, and producers walter f. On the other hand, i have to say that the gladiatorial fights were historically accurate. Historical accuracy of gladiator 2000 film hippie wiki. The film was coproduced and released by dreamworks pictures and universal pictures. And yet the movie, set in ancient rome, still manages to tick off plenty of historians. I highly recommend the 4k bluray of gladiator but with the warning that unless you have a very powerful tv correctly calibrated then you just may be disappointed this is a 4k bluray where caveat emptor applies. One thing i noticed that wasnt historically accurate was the chants of the spectators at the arena. I borrowed this movie on dvd, but i wish i had seen it in the theater for it would have been a lot more fun and powerful there. After marcus aurelius death, commodus tells the romans that he is the new. The moviemakers in gladiator werent 100% historically accurate.
The moviegladiatoris a hollywood production of course, but it is actually pretty accurate in terms of larger themes of roman history and the conflict between a republic and a dictatorship. The new film provides a dramatic portrait of the eruption of mount vesuvius and the destruction of pompeii. The accuracy of the movie spartacus as an historical biography is mostly fiction with some facts. Russell crowe, joaquin phoenix, connie nielsen period of history in focus.
Understanding the true history behind the movie without nitpicking the tiny details can help us appreciate the roots of the film even more. Maximus was the greatest roman general in the roman empire. Gladiator is a 2000 epic historical drama film directed by ridley scott and written by david franzoni, john logan, and william nicholson. Best ancient historical movies that are mostly accurate. You wont find a better example of hdr being used properly in any movie. Despite this, gladiator is one of the most powerful and moving films ive ever seen. The movie gladiator revolves around the life of maximus decimus meridius. When braveheart came out in 1995, it was an instant success. Top 15 history ancientmedievel movies you have to watch. The danger of historically inaccurate movies kazingram. I feel like this has always been tough for hollywood. So which movies are the best at both getting ancient history correct and. Check out all the things that are historically inaccurate in gladiator below.
For one, i think the movie is still largely popular and regarded as a great film and it is still incredibly. Commodus proclaims himself the new emperor and asks maximus for his loyalty, but maximus. The onscreen rome we see is bigger and more stalinist empirestyle grey than it was in reality. The movie gladiator from the year 2000 is no different. In hollywood, there is a difference between historically accurate, and historically authentic. Gladiator was a film released in 2000 starring russell crowe that focused on.
The movie includes many historically accurate facts ranging from some of the characters to the society of rome. Cambridge university historian peter burke states that we see history through the eyes of those who invent it. This film is only historically accurate in that rome really did exist as an empire as did gladiators who fought and died in the arenas all across the empire. Gladiator is a wonderful story and won best picture in 2000. Maximus rises as a wellskilled gladiator, eventually making it to rome where he participates in the gladiator games sponsored by commodus. Gladiator was a film released in 2000 starring russell crowe that focused on general maximus decimus meridius, who was enslaved after escaping his execution for not supporting the new roman emperor commodus starring joaquin phoenix.
Historical accuracy of the gladiator and the image of rome. Historians called the movie both the worst and best of all films. In the film, the colosseum had statues surrounding the arena, tens of thousands of seats with a special box for the emperor and his family, underground tunnels for the gladiators. I also try to add greathest scenes from each movie so you can enjoy in that too. In making the film gladiator 2000, director ridley scott wanted to portray the. Although much of the movie is fictitious, its interesting to note that emperor commodus historically accurate killer, narcissus, was born in the same roman african province as the one in the movie where maximus becomes a gladiator. In the film, emperor marcus aurelius doesnt trust his son, commodus, and instead taps maximus an esteemed general to take over and return rome to the old republic. If you know the answer to this question, please register to join our limited beta program and start the. But maximus escapes, gets captured by slave traders and ends up as a gladiator fighting for his life in the arena. The inaccuracies of gladiator is what really made the film work well as an action movie, and if you are looking for a 100% historically accurate. However, historical inaccuracies in films can have a dangerous impact on their audiences, and there are two factors that make them far more dangerous than historical inaccuracies in most other. In it, russell crowes character, maximus, goes from. While the movie is not based on any specific reported or historical incident, the movie is steeped in history.
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