Poignant and bleak

Rating: 8/10 (26 May 2009)

Spartacus is a documentary about one man, a slave of some sort, and his struggle for respect and freedom. 'Why do you mock us?' he shouts 'We are men too. All we want are the same rights and privileges as everyone else'. Unfortunately for Spartacus, him and his friends are quite dirty, and in the olden days that was not good. I'm not sure when this was made- the clothes are obviously quite old, and there aren't any cars, but I'm a bit confused as all films before 1977 were black and white (with the odd exception). I'm pretty sure there were cars in 1976, maybe just not in the country this was filmed. Either way, it's a stark reminder of how lucky we are today as dirty people have the same rights as the rest of us, and some even go on to fame and riches after showing their dirt on 'reality TV shows'.
The filmmaker follows the life of Spartacus from his days as a famous boxer- 500 fights all wins by KO is quite a record, even by today's standards. We see some stock footage of his most famous fights- beware, some of these are quite gruesome and all the more scary as we know they were real. I would have liked some interviews with the fighters and the managers, and perhaps some fans, but alas no. Maybe this will be included in future video releases. After a period of civil war or something- journalists weren't allowed into the country so about 10 years of Sparky's life are missing, we find our hero has lost his job and his money like many did, and has now resorted to slavery. 'Shine your sandals, ma'am?' we hear him cry. 'Scrub out yer barn, squire?' It's a sad story of how the great can fall. I though the documentary would end here, perhaps with a closing line about the futility of dreams, and that even great success can come crumbling down in an instant. But no, something surprising happened, which showed me the true quality of the man. Sparktickus decided he wanted to reclaim his former glory; he wasn't ready for the scrap heap just yet; he would be great again and if the government tried to stop him he would cause a rebellion. He gathers his former boxing friends as well as other slaves (presumably to make up numbers) and attempts to form a new boxing/wrestling/mixed martial arts league. I thought again that the documentary would end, with Sparky set up as a hero, an inspiration to all slaves and faded celebrities, perhaps with a closing line about the greed and desire of celebrity culture, but also the human touch and what even the smallest mind can accomplish with a strong will. Another surprise- it goes on, and the King decides that he has had enough of this little rebellion. He sends out all his armies to find Sparky and it is at this point the filmmakers really should have stepped in. They could have brought him and his friends to America and fame after the success of the film. But no, they lazily stand by and watch as our friends are literally ripped to shreds, and their heads put on posts down the motorway. The camera fades to black.
This is one of the most stark endings I've ever seen, and of course as we all know it actually happened. I'm torn as to how I should feel about this film. Yes, the film makers do a great job of showing Sparky's life and how terrible people can be, but they went too far. Surely they could have avoided any pretentious nonsense about 'the camera showing truth' and 'not interfering with nature'. I mean these weren't spiders we were dealing with, they were people! A good documentary, but very long, and considering the ending you may want to stop an hour before the end and pretend it all ended OK.
Favourite scene: When Sparky is training another young fighter by running along the beach. The camera fades to slow motion as they cross the line, and then jump into the surf in their shorts and frolic about, flicking water etc. Poignant.