Impossible history, but vivid fiction of Roman struggle for power with the circus maximus as arena

Rating: 6/10 (3 June 2000)

The victorious general- whose name in Rome was imperator- is indicated to be Master of Rome by Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor. Commodus, his son, knowing the plans of his father kills Marcus Aurelius. Maximus, promised to power see his family assassinated, becomes a gladiator, after being prisoner sold as a slave. In Rome with his triumphs in the arena of the Colosseum, the circus maximus,he defies the power of the tyrant Commodus. In the real history Commodus takes power with 15 years and has not killed his father; he loved the circus spectacle and even participated in it.
Is this film a metaphor of modern relations of power- the mob, the media- inside the present dominant empire?