History Buffs: Gladiator
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- čas přidán 17. 07. 2015
- This review we get in the ring and see how accurate is Gladiator!
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As Commodus dies at the end of the movie he whispers to Maximus “my life was never a tragedy, it was always a comedy.”
🖤
you sneaky boy
@@lordfusiondar1003 In which he didnt realize it was a joke,people make mistakes my guy.Stop trying to sound edgy by picking on an honest mistake,then acting like an asshole after he states why.
LordFusionDaR cringe
Give this man an oscar
Biggus Dickus, the greatest champion in all
Of gladiator history
i had a nephew named Biggus.
Don't forget his wife, Incontinentia Buttocks.
WestKraven heard about him
Rip graham
Hail Theethaaah!
''are you ready to rule the empire?''
''yes father''
''well guess what? no you're not lmao''
Based
I like how he actually says it. “Are you ready to do your duty to Rome?” His duty was to man up and take the rejection well.
"Can you imagine Russel Crowe chocking out a naked Joaquin Phoenix?"
I see you've read my fan-fiction.
I can imagine Russel C, chocking the Jocker Phoenix !
@@waterfountain4145 Jor-El/Zeus choking out the Joker.
😁
If you had a slave that was a scribe who could read and write 7 languages, why would you make him a Gladiator? He'd be more useful as, well, a scribe!
+Patrick Stewart Yeah! And given that Rome had a massive empire in great need of skilled administrators, making him fight in the games just comes off as wasted talent.
MrBanausos
You're trying too hard.
MrBanausos
Aaaand you're blocked. Have a nice day :)
+Patrick Stewart Agree! i don't get the way he makes gladiators sound like NFL players! lol...If they were treated so well, why would they want to get killed in the arena? None of them would die if that was the case! I don't get how you can be a slave in that society and also get free athletic trainers, amazing food, & hookers whenever you want! I don't think that society valued slaves of any kind THAT much! I can believe that they were like "work horses" but they were also forced to be there & had to fight for their freedom like in the movie!
+Fawad B Gladiators weren't common slaves shoveling shit in some farm. They were meant for the public entertainment and therefore they would have wanted them to be as fit and healthy as possible.
"Is Rome worth one good mans life?"
Romulus: "Yes."
but Remus tho
@@endaloresandsprinkles9345 You better not mess with the man when he says he's building a great wall.
@@henrik3291 -... --- ..
@@endaloresandsprinkles9345 B8? Bait? xD
@@henrik3291 oh did I write it wrong, I meant to put -... ... .., wich means boi
I just realized that Joaquin Phoenix plays a dude with daddy issues in all these movies:
Joker
Gladiator
Walk the line
We own the night
In Joker, it is more like Mommy issues.
@@captainmarvelwilson508 both actually
And don’t forget Buffalo soldiers. Hehe in a way😏
His look of instability has made for a very stable career - talk about turning around adversity, after having a James-Dean-esque brother.
Even in "The Sisters Brothers" his character is a drunken nutcase because of the abuse he received from his dad (who doesn't appear in the movie). I guess he just plays the role of an attractive yet somewhat unhinged person well, since he is a bit eccentric in real life too.
Gladiator is “as accurate as an episode of Game of Thrones.” Incidentally, Joffrey Baratheon’s actor, Jack Gleason, drew inspiration from Phoenix’s portrayal of Commodus
@@kylelilley4814 it's true! To make the audiences hate you that much takes amazing acting skills!
Both bratty sadistic little shits with daddy issues.
It’s kind of remarkable how similiar Gladiator’s Commodus and even the book version of Joffrey are, not to mention the GoT version.
@@kylelilley4814 the main reason he retired is because it felt more like a job then a fun hobby and he’s been acting since he was a child. He needed time just to be himself. He acts here and there now but he’s not constantly looking for roles like he used to
@@kylelilley4814he’s said multiple times that people never acted strange towards him in real life. It was about acting feeling like a job rather than a paid hobby
@@So1asola I stand corrected then, deleting the comment
i love how all romans have british accents in any movie
Evil aliens from a long time ago in a galaxy far far away had British accents too. Pretty amazing!
@@roysheaks1261 that just wouldn't work in a movie lmao
Or Australian in this case. Also Quintus is clearly American.
@@Robert399 New Zealand, but that's a common slip up since they sound similar.
If you were going to pick a modern accent to use, it makes a kind of sense since the British were the last big empire in modern history.
Despite its inaccuracies, Gladiator is a damn good movie.
I mean, thats generally the case with movies and why they veer off being painstakingly true to the source. Some true stories, if adopted faithfully would make for boring cinema.
I slightly agree, it's nothing GREAT though. Too much action and CGI, couldve been better written. Best thing is acting
Andrew Hoyle you don’t notice the cgi unless ur looking for it tbh
@@lilfrezzy456 yep, and even then it was very well done. Ahead of its time I think
Abdullah Wosaibi that’s a good point, thinking back at other movies from that time it’s definitely goof cgi
In the movie, Marcus Aurelius didn't reject Commodus to be his successor because he didn't love him, he rejected him because he knew he was too unsuitable for the role. He knew how much of a sick, twisted little bugger he was.
At least, in the movie.
You're correct. In one scene he says "Commodus is not a moral man"
“When Marcus Aurelius finally declares that communists will not be emperor” Google subtitles so close yet so far off
We did it boys, communism is no more.
🤣
@@VOTE_REFORM_UK Based. Marcy Marc just decimated the commies. How can they ever recover?
That's what ya get when leftists run corporations
Joe Biden here.
Joaquin Phoenix did such a good job in gladiator that 20 years later I still hate him🤣
My mom calls his performance “slimy” which is perfectly apt. Joaquin was excellent in the role
One of the most satisfying movie deaths of all time. He was such a slimeball, amazing performance.
@@kevinbarry4325 that’s how Ben seemed to me for some reason but I thought I was being prejudging him .
Amazing how this movie was released 20 years ago yet looks like something that could’ve been released now. Amazing visuals in so many ways.
Justin Watson 20yrs ago?!?! Noooo I feel old!
Wait, what?!?
Yeah.
I generally think that 2 years is quite long, I find a few months quite long, because I know that time in retrospect has to do with memory(more than it has to do with time flying by), but in a 20 year total, I think we can easily round up 18 years to 20.
I know right? Still one of my favorite movies
His summary at the end perfectly sums up what I believe about historical films. They may not always be accurate, but if they get an audience interested in the actual history, then that alone justifies the changes.
It probably got a LOT of people into HEMA and into history. In the future, we may see more fantastic shows and reenactments from history, because it has always been some mystery and the more people get into it, the more likely someone is to find something new to try and it works
Then he is a hypocrite of the highest level. Didn't he hate Kingdom of Heaven for that reason?
@@cheekymeeky1813 No. He hates Kingdom of Heaven because the inaccuracies are flat-out misrepresentations of the time period, whitewashing one side while villainizing the other to produce an intellectually-stunted, modern politics tinged lens of the Third Crusade. Just listen to the opening minutes where he goes on about how the period is presented in the opening text crawl and establishing shots of Europe and Palestine, versus how it actually went down. Or how the film presented the Crusades as nothing but European warmongering and land-grabbing, as opposed to the (relative) unification of a fractured continent against a geopolitical and existential threat.
@@X525Crossfire okay thats true, I give you that. What I don't like is the fact that he watches half the mobile, and then rants that everything sucks and thats it thanks for watching. What about the amazing fights and for fucks sake finally accurate armour and clothes! And with other movies he goes weeeelll at least are they fun and make people interested! It just sounded like: I dont like it so it must suck!
@cheekymeeky1813 I use the opening crawl as an example, mostly for the history side of things. He also just doesn't like it as a film because of its bad plot, one- or two-dimensional characters, and dialogue. And if he doesn't like it as a movie and it utterly fails as a representation of the time period, doesn't that mean...he's going to give it a bad review? 🤔 And the professional critics weren't exactly pounding tables shouting "BEST PICTURE!" when it came out, either.
I used to work at a video store when this movie came out, I was obsessed with it. Played it on the monitors non-stop, knew the dialogue inside and out. Best job I ever had, until I got robbed at gun point :S
for DVDs???
@@drartemisa21 lol got robbed for cash at the register!
You should have yelled: *ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED*
sorry
@@johanjonsson6504 I will have my vengeance in this life or the next
Sorry mate
Bottom line on Gladiator: were you not entertained?
valar YES I I I said a Yes
valar It was one of the best films I've seen. History Buff can definitely be a bit of a kill joy.
Good answer...
"Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?"
😂 😂
''The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate, it's the sand of the Colosseum.'' For some reason I just love that quote.
It's only a model!
In a modern connotation it would be: politics is downstream from culture. Which is the truth.
My nigga Carolus
@@ChevySpeedAddict And yet 90% of politicians think they're above us mere mortals.
I was almost named Maximus, my parents loved this movie.
Got to visit the colesium and it is unreal that events kinda similar to this took place.
Hah, I know a girl named Novara.
Ancient cities make for some amazing names… like Jericho, Alexandria, Aswan, Memphis, Sais, I could go on
if that had happened and you built a fort of your own, would it have been called Fortress Maximus? (kudos if you get the reference I tried to make)
I know a kid named Maximus, and I keep asking him to day "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridias..." and he won't.
@@lhunt8249 "My name is gladiator" would be badass answer.
@@Ben-yg2wj Jericho always gives me shivers, i played the game Clive Barker's Jericho when i was a kid, i enjoyed it but that stuff terrified me.
Ridley Scott did some amazing work with Gladiator. The directing, the acting and the music all came together perfectly.
I just realized that it was a Ridley Scott production and of course it wasn’t a surprise to me that he was the one in charge. Everything he does is sick af ! I’m digging the Raised By Wolves series right now! You had a chance to watch it yet? 1st full episode is on here if not!
The plain marble statues bug me. That's how they look in museums today, so it's what the audience expects (like undecorated stone castles), but they would have been painted and colourful.
With eggshells and colorful stones/gems for the eyes
I always think that too
Not just the statues. The whole city, the HBO Rome was much more accurate, but even they screwed up the statues
@@maximiliand2544 eggshells? What you mean ?
You can only be so authentic, at some point the audience stops recognizing history and believe it’s unrealistic.
Joaquin Phoenix got robbed. He should have earned an Oscar for best supporting actor in this role.
I agree, but I think Russell Crowe had the harder role. It's more fun playing a raving megalomaniacal psycho than a stalwart, upright good guy.
Yes but Russell won best actor. Joaquin lost to Benicio Del Toro for his role in Traffic. I’ve seen Traffic... he wasn’t that good in it.
@@ERODEROD37 I do think Russell deserved that Oscar. I don't think Joaquin was given much to test him in Traffic.
Not really. He was over the top.
I do know Rease Witherspoon didn't deserve an Oscar for Walk The Line and he did.
He made the movie work, really.
Who else want to see the authentic "strangled in the bath" ending.
At the time of Marcus Aurelius's death two new provinces had been added to the Empire - Marcomannia and Sarmatia, both on the north bank of the river Danube. These gains were relinquished by Commodus as soon as he became Emperor. Technically, Marcus Aurelius did indeed expand the Roman Empire, but his son had other priorities so his father's hard work went to waste.
Marcus Aurelius wrote "Meditations", and he actually mentions a General named Maximus, I recommend it, it's a good read and I feel it gives an insight on the kind of man he was later in his life...
Imagine being such a man but your son ends up being a major piece of shit
Commodus was such a shit head that even ancient historians vilified his mother and made up stories that she had affairs and wasn’t Marcus’s son. They just couldn’t believe such a great man could have such an awful son.
He mentions his mentor named Maximus
The book opens with Marcus giving props to his teachers and mentors.
@@RabiddRabitt1984 very good wisdom in those props
I never viewed Gladiator as a "historical" flick. It was simply a good, entertaining movie.
Of course it was. But intelligent people tend to be interested in the history behind the drama. Stupid people aren't.
@@aquamarine99911 that's a dumbass claim to call people not interested in history stupid but whatever makes you feel special
r/iamverysmart?
Take a load of this guy, a fucking intellectual.
it's really a fan fiction of spartacus
My favourite gladiator thing is that apparently they tried to get a lion and a beer to fight expecting to be a long drawn out thing, and the bear killed the lion in a single blow
Cuz where did you find this information
Sounds extemely unlikely.... They are about the same size, and lions are used to hunting prey that is even much larger than themselfs.
The score deserves high praise. It made a great contribution to the experience, and you appreciate the music even more when you listen to a recording
sea battles in that coleseum...... I WANNA TRAVEL BACK IN TIME NOW !!
Not possible by 180. If you want to go see one that can do that go to spain. There is an old roman amphitheater that has signs of water damage that almost certainly DID host water battles. And it is possible, though highly unlikely that it happened in rome. The wooden flooring was not water tight and was not strong enough to hold the weight of water if it were flooded. It is possible that before it was upgraded by Domitian it was possible. But not in 180.
before it was upgraded lol
Right! The real gladiator battles were so much more epic than most of the ones in the movie. It would have been cool and wouldn't have taken away from the movie at all to have them portrayed more accurately.
Wrong... there is evident at the fucking amphitheater if you go to it today. It hosted water battles since the creation.
I visited it less then 10 days ago and the guide told us this is a made up story. Problem would be to dispose the water unless they would led it flood into residential areas.
Fun fact: most gladiators didn’t fight to the death
Imagine being a history channel and getting history wrong
Under Constantine the Great, first Christian Roman Emperor the games still continued, however I believe that they used wooden swords etc to make it sit more comfortably with the new Christian ethic.
Depends on the source, really. The mortality rate of gladiators is unclear. It would make sense, however, that they would receive premium health care. They were athletes, tremendous investments for their owners and excellent money makers. It stands to reason that people would do whatever they could to extend the lifespan of those investments as long as possible.
True but MANY still died. Roman's loved blood. The gladiators are only a portion of the pie that was the "The Games". In a series of games so a few months 4,000 people and 11,000 were animals. I'm guessing at least 200 would have been gladiators.
@@Daylon91 That wasn't the point. The point is that gladiators didn't fight each other to the death. And they didn't, because they were expensive to replace. He didn't say they didn't kill slaves, because we all know they did.
When a film character is more like a human than the real person he was based on
I've never viewed Gladiator as a historical film. More like an fictional story based in a historical setting. Still, there are a few historically inaccurate decisions I found odd, like for example Marcus choosing Maximus over his son just for narrative tension. Commodus had many reasons to force Maximus into the Colosseum, like jealousy and spite, and it would have not impacted the story other than made it historically more accurate
Joaquin Phoenix is exactly how I'd picture a Roman emperor to look. It was a perfect casting.
Yes he really looked like a Roman Patrician. Dark haired and Italic look, not tall and slightly stout.
He had the correct gravitas for the part and was the far more interesting character than Russell Crowe was
I also thought he looked very Roman, especially when he was wearing a wreath.
Eddie Izard “HeLlO.. wErE tHe RoMaNs!”
After Malcolm McDowell as Caligula.
Can't believe they didn't say anything about how RARE deaths were in Gladiatorial games. you really think the owners would spend all that money treating them like " well-bred race horses" if there were a 50% probability of losing one each match? How much would you invest in a race horse if you knew that if it did not win it would be immediately slaughtered? Gladiatorial combat was basically ancient RAW ( as in American wrestling) only less scripted.
THANK YOU!
Yeah I'm kinda surprised how that little factoid wasn't mentioned.
+Joshua Fox
You're thinking of the in the time of the Republic. In the Imperial times the games were a state-funded, and they were on a much larger scale and death was more common.
Many gladiators were not even slaves ESPECIALLY in the imperial period. It was a profression and very few ever died in the arena. But that does not mean few people died. It was a very common punishment for criminals to be sentenced to death by gladiator. So yes many people were killed in the arena they just were not gladiators.
removes helmet* my name is jvnicus felix antonius cina. (band starts playing the catchy tune*)
The guy wearing the bulls head just had to be a reference to the movie time bandits. Sean Connery plays agememnon who defeats a bull headed warrior. Great movie
“Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt” - Juvenal
4:14 "See that map on the wall, Marcus? It's a 12th Century Arab Muslim World Map, and shouldn't exist yet,"
Prince of Antioch bohemond?
"See that map Maximus its from the future my son will begin the decline of Rome which is why I will reinstate the senate and no longer make my sons emperor"
What on that map exactly do you think was unknown in Roman times?
Grow up Asshole!!! Seriously Grow up!!!!
Holy shit your right. ;( This film. The people were so lazy, major points redacted for me.
I fucken loved Gladiator. A great moment in my childhood. I cried like a water fountain at the end. Such a powerful film. And ofc, very little could save Rome at the end, except maybe marcus aurellius taking care of his son properly, but yeah, who cares about the accuracy, when the movie is made that fucking good.
or an un-murdered Aurelian, or an un-murdered Flavius Aetius. Jeez, a lot of competent romans got murdered...
@Klausbärbel Fömm Lol all of those movies are cornball, except Star Wars. Gladiator even hits the corn factor at times, especially the ending.
@@Grathom15 Thats a wheat field sir, not corn.
If it hadn't been Commodus, some other emperor would have failed as epically as him at doing his job eventually. There were plenty of bad ones after all. The Roman Empire would have perished regardless and you can't pinpoint its downfall on one person, there are a lot of factors that contributed to that. My personal favourite is best described by a comment under the "Ten Minute History" video about it: "Moral of the story: Outsourcing soldiers is a terrible idea".
Inge Bolme Maybe the US has reached such a moment in history today as of Roman Empire.
lesson of the day: joaquin phoenix is very good at acting as a depressed character
BEST. INTRO. EVER. MADE. the extra drums and guitar combined with historic battles, its too good.
“People should know when they have been quarantined”
Would you know?
Did you? Did I?
Would you..would I
I knew because when I joined the emperors army my lungs would collapse and I'd require medical assistance. (I was infected sadly almost immediately during the onset of the outbreak in Canada)
Why are comments like this so popular were you born in 2005?
I cry every time i hear this movie's climax music...
It is pretty awesome, isn't it?
Hans Zimmer is an amazing Composer
me too, damm
i cry every time i climax
Sherb The Superb
As opposed to climaxing every time one cries?
This movie is still one of my favorite movies of all time. And, in 2020 I still tear up this movie, to me was pure perfection.
I swear I come back here every year or so to watch this again.
I discovered this channel 2 hours ago. It's fucking awesome.
Thanks for finding it!
+Ben I discovered it 20 min ago and i know how u feel !
+Ben Ren And yet you didn't credit reddit with helping you find it
+Ben Ren lol me too
+Ben Ren me too, he is great, and extremely critical about historical movies.
I grew up in the 80s and early 90s watching brainless action and loved them. Then when I went cinema in 2000 aged 22 I came out of cinema in SHOCK. Never seen a modern epic like that before. Have watched a hundred times since have soundtrack and all.
Some people will criticize Gladiator for still having too many action scenes, implying that it's also a braindead movie.
I think that could not be further from the truth. It's the classic hero's tale done really well. A movie doesn't have to be boring or pretentious in order to have depth.
Ralph cifaretto approves . Strength and honor .
@@MsJavaWolf yes the movie isn't just about revenge it has a strong moral messege too.
I feel the same way! Everyone should enjoy a little bit of Rambo and Terminator. But an epic will always be an epic, and should have a place in your heart
@Coxyboy ! Thanks will check it out
I'd like to see one on Gangs of New York!
C’mon Marcus Aurelius! Do I really look like the kind of clown who can rule an empire?
*No Ezio, you don’t.*
My biggest issue with the film is that it cemented the idea that gladiators were all forced into these brutal fights to the death. Firstly, most gladiators joined voluntarily because it was a highly desirable job. Secondly, the overwhelming majority (>90%) of fights didn't end in the loser's death. The trainer had final say over whether the gladiator died and almost never did because gladiators were expensive and time-consuming to train and good gladiators were celebrities. Oh and also the whole thumb up/down thing is bollocks.
To be fair many gladiators WERE slaves for PoWs. But still no chance of a general (especially a successful one) would fight as a gladiator)
you are right.only 20% gladiatorial battle ended in death.and yes, many successful gladiators had status of celebrities just like modern sports stars.
like pro wrestling
Many Gladiators also did not die because they were being sponsored by companies.
much less an emperor
I found out there were actually early scripts of the film where Maximus' image was used to sponsor a brand of olive oil. What's even stranger was that I also found out just how bizarrely accurate that was to real-life gladiators.
That is true. Gladiators just like a lot of modern day athletes, were approached by manufacturers to sponsor and advertise their products.
The largest entertainment venue in Rome its self was the Circus Maximus, a chariot racing forum: which was used over a longer period of time and seated far more spectators. And was in fact, located literally across the street from the Emperor's mansions,: which over looked the Circus Maximus..
9:41 They weren't all fights to the death either, gladiators were incredibly valuable superstar athletes. Only 1 in 10 gladiators died in matches...
Another historical flaw is that they call Colosseum by the name it got almost a 1000 years after it was built - Colosseum. The original name was the Flavian Theatre, which it kept until around the year 1000.
commenting on a video about a movie and its historical accuracy and mistakes in that regard, and insulting someone talking about the exact same thing. Holy shit what the fuck has this earth come to...
99 percent dont know that. And Colosseum was and is a better name. :P cool fact though...
You're right except for the fact that it was called the Flavian Amphitheatre not the Flavian Theatre
Also Romans favorite form of entertain was actually chariot racing, and they supported their teams so passionately that massive fights/battles would consume the city killing sometimes hundreds of people
and if i remember correctly the name Colosseum comes from the large statue of Nero that was outside of it.
HB: he's portrayed perfectly
Me: Ooh....
HB: By Joaquin Phoenix
Me: No wonder
Chariot races were far more popular than gladiatorial games in ancient Rome. The Circus Maximus (Rome's foremost chariot track) not only sat 4 times more people than the colosseum, it was more than 500 years older. The colors of the various teams pervaded every level of Roman life. Your preferred team was an almost sacred part of your identity, so much so that the city would regularly declare war on itself due to chariot races, creating multiple city wide riots, something never caused, to my knowledge, by gladiatorial games.
I did not know that! Interesting
So Formula 1 mixed with typical Philadelphia Eagles fan behaviour, FORMVLA PRIMA if you will.
@@Ballin4Vengeance 🤣🤣🤣
Same with the medieval eastern roman empire in Constantinople.
@@Ballin4Vengeance FORMVLA PRIMA 😂
I'd be interesting to see a History Buffs breakdown of Troy!
Yeah it may be historically inaccurate, but it is a fine film that does some justice to the memory of Rome. Plus it spurred more people to pick up Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, so the film promoted greater learning and cultural knowledge.
It's a shame the film didn't also portray Marcus Aurelius as the only Roman Emperor who was also truly a philosopher.
What nonsense.
@@ingriddubbel8468 It would be nice if you would you be calling "nonsense" would be offering some counter arguments. They might be convincing, but id like to hear them.
I actually thought the meditations of Aurelius in the film were just shoe horned in by a preachy liberal Hollywood, I had no idea he was a philosopher when he lived.
@@chatteyj His Meditations are actually one of the most influential philosophical books ever written, many world leaders have and do keep a copy of it on hand everywhere they go.
I love that Marcus Aurelius is the emperor in this movie. One of my favorite stoic philosophers. I wasn’t even aware he was an emperor as well until I watched this movie.
Born in the Serbia
@@ilionilion2693 No. He wasn't.
How can Marcus Aurelius be your favorite philosopher when you dont even know that he was an emperor,i mean its literaly not possible lmao
How the hell did you NOT know that Marcus Aurelius was an Emperor?
If you even read "Meditations," even in those journal entries Aurelius shares info about his Emperor life.
William uhm very interesting question, I’m sure you are dying to know the full story. I was just getting into stoicism as a philosophy when this movie came out, I didn’t read meditations or others like Seneca until later. Also the movie isn’t very accurate at all depicting his actual time as an emperor according to his own writings and written history it was easy for me to miss the connection. I apologize for this tragedy. I will never miss that connection again when I’m getting into a field of study. Bless me father for I have sinned.
Small (somewhat insignificant) detail u missed and couldn't have known about unless you're a specific kinda dog guy...
At 3:16 they show a "war dog". Unfortunately it's a German Shephard type dog. And while the Roman's were fighting against a Germanic army, they definitely would've been using an actual war dog. A breed of dog literally bred for war. It's called a Cane Corso or possibly a Neopolitan Mastiff if the general came from real money. The Corso is a decedent/offshoot of the Neo and has been around for about 4000 years. They were bred specifically for war and guardian purposes for at least a thousand years by this time. Look em up. They're a badass breed and terrifying to be on the bad side of
From what I've read I have heard the Roman soldiers used Rottweilers.
Mastiffs yes...but geese were great before the claymores were set off...
@CC not Rotweilers. That breed fidn't exist in Toman zimes. But Neopolitan Mastiffs. Impressive dogs, with deep voices. There were used to grighten, not really to fight.
This was great to get more insight into what was happening historically during this period. I've seen this movie several times and still watch it about once a year.
A scene from the greatest film with Romans in it ever made:
CENTURION: What's this, then? 'Romanes Eunt Domus'? 'People called Romanes they go the house'?
BRIAN: It-- it says, 'Romans, go home'.
CENTURION: No, it doesn't. What's Latin for 'Roman'? Come on!
BRIAN: Aah!
CENTURION: Come on!
BRIAN: 'R-- Romanus'?
CENTURION: Goes like...?
BRIAN: 'Annus'?
CENTURION: Vocative plural of 'annus' is...?
BRIAN: Eh. 'Anni'?
CENTURION: 'Romani'. 'Eunt'? What is 'eunt'?
BRIAN: 'Go'. Let--
CENTURION: Conjugate the verb 'to go'.
BRIAN: Uh. 'Ire'. Uh, 'eo'. 'Is'. 'It'. 'Imus'. 'Itis'. 'Eunt'.
CENTURION: So 'eunt' is...?
BRIAN: Ah, huh, third person plural, uh, present indicative. Uh, 'they go'.
CENTURION: But 'Romans, go home' is an order, so you must use the...?
BRIAN: The... imperative!
CENTURION: Which is...?
BRIAN: Umm! Oh. Oh. Um, 'i'. 'I'!
CENTURION: How many Romans?
BRIAN: Ah! 'I'-- Plural. Plural. 'Ite'. 'Ite'.
CENTURION: 'Ite'.
BRIAN: Ah. Eh.
CENTURION: 'Domus'?
BRIAN: Eh.
CENTURION: Nominative?
BRIAN: Oh.
CENTURION: 'Go home'? This is motion towards. Isn't it, boy?
BRIAN: Ah. Ah, dative, sir! Ahh! [Centurion draws sword] No, not dative! Not the dative, sir! No! Ah! Oh, the... accusative! Accusative! Ah! 'Domum', sir! 'Ad domum'! Ah! Oooh! Ah!
CENTURION: Except that 'domus' takes the...?
BRIAN: The locative, sir!
CENTURION: Which is...?!
BRIAN: 'Domum'.
CENTURION: 'Domum'.
BRIAN: Aaah! Ah.
CENTURION: 'Um'. Understand?
BRIAN: Yes, sir.
CENTURION: Now, write it out a hundred times.
BRIAN: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar, sir.
CENTURION: Hail Caesar. If it's not done by sunrise, I'll cut your balls off.
BRIAN: Oh, thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar and everything, sir! Oh. Mmm!
+ludocrat Made my day, thanks a lot!
Love Life of Brian
Tbf Ridley even admitted he wasn't trying to make the film historically accurate
That's really you need to do as a director to avoid flame from history buffs. Some get a ton of flak because they never stated their movie as historically accurate, authentic, or otherwise.
A bit of trivia: had she not met an untimely death, Ofra Haza (Moses' mother in the Prince of Egypt) would have been the singer for the soundtrack.
Oh that’s sad, I loved her.
As far as Maximus being a mere plot device: Marcus Aurelius mentions a Maximus in his Meditations in especially high regard and the description is a spitting-image of the one in the movie, as well as Edward Gibbon (using 2 sources, one of which is Cassius Dio), mentioning two 'noble' brothers, one of which is a Maximus who is killed by Commodus. Also how the hell can you not mention that Lucilla actually did try to have Commodus killed?!
It was actually quite rare for a gladiator to die in the arena. It happened but it was not the norm. Race horses are a good analogy, a skilled gladiator was very valuable! You wouldnt want your race horse to be killed if it came second. Imagine if football teams where given knives and the last man standing won. Barcelona vs man city would have a massive impact on the transfer market, their clubs and their agents... thats a bad buissiness model.
@JAMES BEECH I have to agree. As an equestrian, I appreciate an excellently executed comparison, especially one connecting horses and history.
@James Beech Yes, the lanistas (gladiator school owners) were a powerful business lobby, and they invested a huge amount in their gladiators, as racing stable owners do promising racehorses.
A new emperor, hungry for popularity and profligate with gladiators’ lives might find himself and his bodyguards waylaid in a back alley and slaughtered by a powerful but anonymous group of thugs who suddenly disappeared in the night. The Senate, who had nominal charge of the public purse, were often behind that.
while this is true, thousands diedwhen they did the naval battle re-enactments mostly because they would drown
Omg, if you gave them knives, imagine how bad the flopping and rolling around after every hit would be.....however, I'd totally watch that sport....might even buy a replica chain mail jersey with my number and name on the back 👍
JAMES BEECH yeah, around 15 percent of Gladiators died in the history of the Roman Empire
"People should know when they are conquered"
"Would YOU, Quintus? Would i?"
Those lines man.
So damn good.
You’re a slave with an illusion of freedom
You wear the chains of bondage & servitude you forged link by link freely & believe you have freedom & choice. You believe the lie so totally, you can’t see the truth.
We are all slaves. Sold a beautiful lie.
It's also a comment on the 20th century and who started European wars and why.
I use this movie in my World History classes. I tell my students it's a very good movie, then show it to them. They get really into it, then I assign them a paper to write how inaccurate it is. It blows their minds.
What is good about it is it really captures the essence of how people imagine Rome. It's not steeped in detail like the Didius Falco and Flavia Albia books (Roman noir murder-mysteries by Lindsey Davis, check 'em out!) nor is it painstakingly true to events like the Warrior of Rome series (Harry Sidebottom). It's not even reveling in the values dissonance of Rome vs. Modern day while being largely accurate in broad strokes and extremely accurate in the little details like the HBO-BBC Rome series (which owes a lot to Gladiator). It's a broad strokes pastiche of what comes to mind when people say 'the glory that was Rome' or 'the Roman Empire.' It's Rome at its most decadent, its most fantastical and greatest extent, the unchallenged greatest empire in the world (alongside the Eastern Han in China, but totally different spheres of influence, also Aksum in East Africa).
It's for this reason I use Gladiator in school, to give my students a taste of Rome as it is best remembered, then let them know the well is far deeper than they can see from the surface.
3:16 You can imagine the Legion's surprise when they realized that the Celtic//Gallic Forces were being gifted Impis by Shaka Zulu half the world away in an attempt to thwart Augustus' expansion. And the horror when they realized that there is no real counter to Impis in the field until Rome techs Gunpowder for the ability to build Great War Infantry.
Not to mention he's sending those reinforcements over 16 centuries into the past!
Sounds like a playthrough of Civilization V
they were germanic in the movie and irl, it was the germanic tribes of the marcomanni that Marcus Aurelius thought in Vindobona (modern-day Vienna).
Discovered the channel yesterday...can't stop watching....help!
Great video's and information giving about the historical correctness :) Really loving it!
Same with me today
Just..One...More...Video...
Just discovered this channel today and I've already watched 8 of these videos on my favorite movies. Love it!!!
- "People should know when they're conquered."
Would you? Would i?
Ha! Germania has never been successfully conquered!
Would you Guintas?
@@HarionDafar ehhhhh the soviet tank invasion of ww2 disagrees with you.
@@jamessalvatore7054 No it doesn't. I was talking about a regional's that was called Germania. I am not talking about Germany. Obviously.
Im so glad you referenced Ralphies Gladiator fixation, MADONE!
I love this movie despite its uh. Extensive creative liberties with history. Commodus is a really fascinating figure to me in Roman history for a lot of reasons so it’s really interesting how the writers of the movie decently preserved his personality (that of being extremely decadent and paranoid, concerned with showmanship and looking good, extremely ambitious but not willing to put they work in to win glory fairly) despite the almost entirely fictional story. It’s a really interesting character study in a way.
Great video, but there were a couple things you missed here. 1. Flaming arrows would largely be wasted arrows. They don't go far, would be expensive to make, and have reduced penetrating power. 2. Most gladiator fights did not end in death. Most deaths were accidental and the owner of the gladiator who was responsible for the death had to pay for the gladiators replacement. 3. The Colosseum is not nearly as large as it is depicted in the film. 4. The whole thumbs up or down for live or die did not happen and was actually conceived of in a painting called "Pollice Verso" that you actually included in the video. Bonus Fact. Not all legionaries wore red tunics. Roman Marines wore blue, and land units largely had a choice of color. It is said that legionaries like the color red, but that is largely the end of the historical description. Tunics likely were Red, White, as well as Yellow as those were cheap colors to make. The tunic colors were likely based upon where that legion is from. For example a Legion from modern day Spain would likely have yellow tunics as that was a regional dye.
Turul HEMA About the thumb up or down bit, I’ve heard they’d actually do a closed fist or an open upward palm. I haven’t looked deep into it though
The thumbs up meant death as in the signing of the sword raise to the sky, and it wasn't a thumb down but both of there fist closed representing a sheathed sword
Turul HEMA Why is this not the absolute top comment here? I was going to write all of this, and here I see it’s been written a year ago and is languishing halfway down the comment page.
@@LumiRocketsI'm assuming there is not a lot of Postgraduate students with MPhil perusing this channel. The host may just be a Ancient History buff. I don't know if he has a masters degree or if it's just a hobby. I just came across the channel and it's fairly interesting to see the films his viewers have chosen for him to dissect. He seems to throw in some humor and historical landmarks which can be akin to some popcorn entertainment.
I thought the reason many tunics worn by roman legionaries were red due to the fact that they saw themselves as the "Sons of Mars", the Roman god of war, whose color was, of course, red.
These days when I watch a "historic" movie, I go in assuming its pretty much all bullshit. But I'm usually willing to cut them slack if its a good story that at least looks authentic.
So...
Have you watched Dunkirk yet?
i have that struggle with vikings. leather armor, vikings wearing no helmets (I can see that for the main characters this has theatrical reasons, but no viking warrior wears a helmet ever. it's ridiculous), swordcuts basically ignoring the laws of physics by cutting through gambeson or even chainmail... long list of inaccuracies. but the characters. damn. they make it worth watching.
Guess you might be looking forward to the “Outlaw King”
“Normally when a movie is this historically accurate it tends to piss me off a bit”
Just a little?
Saw this in the theaters the third week it came out. I counted the days until it was available on home video, and watched the hell out of this movie for months. Drove my parents crazy. Easily one of my favorites.
Maximus’ attack dog is the wrong breed. German Shepherds didn’t exist yet. He could have used a rotweiler though
Didnt even look like a german shepard. Looked more like a wolf hybrid
J M according to IMDB it’s a Tervuren Belgian Shepherd (very closely related to Belgian Malanois which is often mistaken for German Shepherd), which also didn’t exist yet. Apparently they were going for “pet wolf” but the UK government wouldn’t let them import wolves for filming due to rabies concerns. But that’s also kinda dumb especially since Rome did have actual attack dogs in breeds that are commonly available today like rotweilers
Pretty sure the Romans used mongrels, although they admired the wolf imagery in their iconography.
The Roman's had a black mastiff like dog. The Cane Corso
@@andyrihn1 That's weird because they have "tamed" wolves in England already. My parents did a wolf tour last time they were over there.
No word about how Maximus gone from Germany to Spain in no time.
@@jakehames727 how long does it take you drive 100 miles? About 3 hours. Now consider that germany and spain are about 1200 miles apart, and you have horses who wont be able to spernt the whole way, will need rests consistently, as well as food and water, plus carrying weights.
paco ramon In the film it clearly shows the amount of time that passes. His hair overgrown, change of attire and Commodus hair also changes radically too.
That's Ridley Scott for you. Making an epic movie with great production, costumes, set, actors, visuals but for some reason he refuses to make a normal length movie. He films and edit like 5h of footage and the just cuts half of it.
Ethan b05 normal length movie?
It wasn't even technically Germany! Marcus Aurelius died at Vindobona (and in the movie, right before the Battle of Zama re-fight, one of the gladiators mentioned he served with Maximus there), which is where Vienna is now.
The greatest opening scene ever. I was floored in the theaters as a kid.
As a Roman fictional romp it's great. As anything remotely historically factual, apart from Commodus succeeding Marcus Aurelius, it's pants.
But the film did more or less get Commodus' character right: he was a deranged, power-mad brute. Late in his reign he became insane and believed himself to be the reincarnation of Hercules. In addition, he disgraced his dignity as emperor by fighting in public as a gladiator. Small wonder that his ministers had him murdered by an athlete.
I thoroughly, _fundemantally_ disagree with your position.
Hans Zimmer can make _anything_ look epic
Anyone know who does the music for the intro?
A. Vendre exactly his music makes everything cool
just a few weeks ago I saw a video of a guy retardedly trying to plug an USB into his computer. It had the interstellar docking scene music and I got goosebumps.
Ranger Jauregui
Wondering too. Sounds like Rasputina.
@A. Vendre 🤡
The old intro was absolutely brilliant!!!You should definitely bring it back.
2:18 Egypt isn’t in the Middle East it’s in Northeast Africa
I think he said AND the middle east
Or just Africa I am always confused as to why it’s included to the Middle East
@@kkandsims4612 It's better to delineate parts of Africa, as there are and always have been very different peoples in different parts of the continent. The Northern and Eastern Africans have a more Middle Eastern skin tone, if a tad darker earlier in antiquity. While the Sub-Saharan peoples have the darker tone that most people associate with the classification of African. It's like categorizing all Europeans as the same despite the massive differences between specific countries and regions of Europe. Hell, Italy itself has a very stark split between Northern Italians and Sicilians whose skin tones can vary greatly because of specific invasions and mixing im history.
Separating different ethnicities is just as practical as dileanating between Anglos, Latins, Slavs, and such. Again, similar to how we do this with different regions and islands of Asia.
He said Egypt to the middle east
He said Egypt to middle east, what are you on about?
My MA is in Byzantine History, but I DO know a lot about earlier Roman history. Yes, this DOES get a LOT wrong, but it also gets a LOT right - and gives the FEEL of how the Empire was at that time which is just amazing. I also LOVE this movie, and the cinematography is absolutely top-rate. This review is tremendous and I SHALL recommend it when people ask me about Gladiator - History Buffs says everything I would (and in a better accent than mine LOL)
even with all of the backlash and all of the comments on how it didn't deserve Best Picture (because it didn't), I have to say that 16 years later, Gladiator is still a very very good film. Hell, it feels a little more special now as an epic considering all of the uninspired blockbusters we get nowadays
It does have a place in movie history because it really did bring back the massive historical epic with huge crowd scenes, huge battles and massive buildings. That particular style had pretty much died off because it was so expensive. This one brought it back and showed people how you could pull that off with CGI now.
why didn't it deserve best picture?
A slave speaking (and apparently writing) seven languages wowld be equivalent to a high end computer, and using such a slave as a gladiator wowld be like using a world- class dog-show winning dog for low dog-fighting training bait.
yea its highly unlikely a trained scribe would be used as a gladiatorial slave. A trained scribe would probably have been sold to a wealthy family as a tutor for their children.
He probably screwed someone wife and ended up on their shit list hence he was royally fucked.
Eric Moore ya know that’s a good point that guy could have quite a backstory to him given how unusual his circumstances were
True except that gladiators were star athletes and were treated like the star athletes of today. Or like the movie stars of today. Free men would volunteer to become gladiators just for the recognition.
Shawn H Corey well yes but clearly that guy did not want to be there lol
You missed to mention - Maps did not really exist back then of whole continents.. These battles would also never happen in a wooded area (Roman army would at a disadvantage then)..
The movie is a a masterpiece. It is also not advertised as historically accurate.
The movie is not a masterpiece as it's too dumb
Why are you saying that shit
Look another trash talker that has no spine in reality.
How do you not mention that gladiators were rarely killed in these games?
vorbo01 i also heard it was often like fake american wrestling today, everything choreographed.
Exactly, it was insanely expensive and incredibly time consuming to train, feed, and care for a gladiator. It would take years and years of constant training and pampering to make one gladiator able to put on a good display for the crowd, so to kill them often would be idiotic since within a few years maybe even less, you would be out of gladiators to put on good performances. Gladiators were very similar to pro wrestlers, they were taught how to fight in ways that looked very aesthetically pleasing but did the minimum amount of damage to their opponent. It was more like a very deadly form of stage performance than an actual duel to the death.
I also read that gladiators rarely died and if they did it was usually an accident. Also if they did die that the owner had to be compensated. If it was intentional the owner of the offending slave could also be charged with murder/manslaughter which wouldn’t be good for him obviously.
Gladiators were rarely killed. Most gladiators were not even slaves. They did it as a profression. But that doesnt mean alot of people didnt die. Not all those in the arena were gladiators. Many were criminals convicted to death by gladiator.
Also, the gladiator types, the fact that only certain types were pitted against another types, their armour and weapons, and that they were based on enemies Rome had faced in the past. This guy is certainly not a Roman History buff.
This is the one movie I can watch over and over and never get tired of it. Without a doubt my favorite movie. 🎥 🍿
There's nothing wrong with taking a story from history and making it into a great film... The problem is that there are too many people who after watching said film believe that they have watched a documentary and think things actually happened that way.
This depresses me so much. I grew up in the 90s on a steady diet of epic films of the past and especially what I consider the golden age, which was late 90s ish with Fight Club, Gladiator, The Matrix, LoTR, etc. That time was chock full of absolutely brilliant, challenging and thought provoking films and I couldn't WAIT to see where we would take it from there. *Whelp...* here we are... regurgitating nostalgia for the epic films of the past and sucking any sign of life from them, history that's been rewritten for "modern audiences" - aka shitting on everything historically accurate and treating us all like idiots and uh... marvel movies. Yay!
Yeah… Maybe the problem is you, take it easy on that second part
@@usernotfound7481 why though? He's right lol
I love this movie and many others from those years. I’m so tired of superhero movies.
Commodus is a prime example as to why hereditary succession breeds weakness
He quickly lost interest in being an effective ruler once he discovered the gladiatorial lifestyle. Commodus did remain popular with the people for quite some time
Yeah but he is a fictionalized character in this movie.
Linus D N Based on a real person who was just as incompetent.
Basically he was Stalin of the Roman Empire xD
But Marcus Aurelius did try his best. The boy just could havd never been a good leader.
Ralph: "Strength and Honor!"
Tony: "Scotch and Soda!"
Just found your series, great content all around. I love that you appreciate the artistry in this film despite the liberties it takes with the history. I believe that this is largely possible due to the fact that Scott never pretended to be telling a history, but rather was clear about creating a fantasy based on the events.
Just found your channel! its a gem glad to have come across it. Now about to binge watch your videos.
Thanks for finding it! Would you mind telling me how you did? It will just give me an idea of ways to help promote it
On the suggested videos category. After watching other history related videos by the way epic intro
+History Buffs do courage under fire
16:13 "....However, the 'real' Commodus, the lil' shit that he was."
Lol! Subscribed!
George Edwards instant subscription
I found this channel today and just have been binging these videos. Two things I love combined into one and has some of my all time favorite movies covered, so glad I found this channel I honestly can't remember the last time I watched a CZcams video without skipping through it a bit but haven't done that once yet lol
Phoenix nails every character he plays
Gladiator wasn't just a great movie. With its breathtaking cinematography, larger than life characters, and probably one of the most epic musical scores in cinematic history, Gladiator was a damn spiritual experience!