history repeats itself

Rating: 10/10 (18 September 2010)

I have selected spoiler alert although I don't think there is much of the story mentioned here. Just in case, people have different levels of what they wish to know about and to hear about. I leave mention of the quality of the story to the end so that the quality of the film is addressed first.
As a student of film and theater, and a teacher of history I really enjoyed this film. The cinematography was lovely, the colors, scenery, dramatic landscape and skin tones amazingly captured. One genuinely felt the bone chilling cold of the mountains, the slice of every blade through sinew and bone. I could have done without the CGI blood splatter. I thought that was a bit silly and distracting. The battles felt real and there was plenty of blood and gore for those who like reality. It takes the romance out of war to see the real effect of slicing into a human body. Even if its a special effect.
The acting was quite good and perhaps so because these are not big names (in the US) but actually actors as well trained in their craft as the Roman centurions in theirs. I appreciated that the filmmakers gave a nod to my intelligence and did not have to create stereotypical caricatures of their characters for the audience to get that both sides have noble and wise people as well as really despicable folk driven by their passions whatever those may be. This was subtly done to the point that some reviewers on this site missed it altogether. I think that's a compliment to the director and writer. One of the hardest things to do in telling a story is to create both feelings of empathy and dislike for the same character. It's very easy to hate a Caligula, but much harder to feel compassion for someone like him.
As for the story, what an interesting tale of the 9th legion and the Picts. A well trained military, the best the world has ever known even by today's standards, following its orders to take over a country, clashes with a nation of people that on first impression seems barbaric and cruel but on closer inspection has its own rich culture, faith, and sense of honor and duty.
One might see the parallels with today's US & European military in the Middle East. This is to me, as a historian, the most interesting part of the tale since humans seem to continue to repeat their bloody history without learning from it. Centurion is reminiscent of the film Black Hawk Down, only set a thousand years ago. Everything in this film has really happened and will continue to happen as long as people use bloodshed to gain power and for vengeance.
To me the story's moral is that it is possible to be both on the good side and the bad side at the same time, depending on the individual's sense of honor and character, and the situation at hand.
Spoiler:
In my opinion the mini love story is a much wanted reward for the most noble knight of all and yet outcast. In real life many soldiers throughout history found solace in the arms of their female occupied enemies. Usually outcast women were the ones to take these invaders into their arms because no man of their own country would have them for various reasons. All too frequently non-outcast women were severely punished for taking the enemy into their beds. In France they shaved women's heads for sleeping with Germans, in Greece they might kill the girl after they killed the German. But the outcast women were for the most part left alone. For that reason, I think this film has a great ending.