Roman Slaves' Cry For Freedom Is Clearly Heard Through This Film

Rating: Null/10 (13 October 2001)

In spite of some historical inaccuracies, the epic spectacle "Spartacus" (1960) is a remarkable movie which should be rightly called late Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece (even though he practically disowned it).

The cast members are excellent. Kirk Douglas was perfectly cast as this historical slave revolt leader. In fact, he was the right age. (Spartacus was in his late 30's when he revolted while Douglas was about 45 when he made this film.) Sir Lawrence Olivier is superb as the cocky and filthy-rich Roman politician Crassus. Other players including Peter Ustinov, John Gavin (yes, Honorable John Gavin, former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico) and Charles Laughton are equally magnificent in their respective roles. The drama and emotion of this film moved me to tears.
The last decisive battle scene between the slave army and Roman legions was magnificently staged. The extras playing the Roman legionnaires marched in formation so precisely, and the whole formation moved like a single organism. The blinding flash, which was created when thousands of extras simultaneously pointed their shields toward the camera, was absolutely awe-inspiring. Just before the two armies clashed, thousands of extras playing the Roman army quickly and precisely reorganized the formation to create skirmish lines. This was a site to behold. It must have been absolutely terrifying for the foes of Rome to watch the formations of these robot-like, super-precise Roman legionnaires charging toward them. (No wonder the extras moved with such a precision. The Roman soldiers were played by 8000 infantrymen from the Spanish Army.) The whole thing was so good it gave me goose bumps.
Of course, since this is a Hollywood movie, there are some almost mandatory historical inaccuracies: 1) Roman historians recorded that Spartacus was sold as a slave as a punishment for deserting from the Roman army. There is no record of his working in a Libyan mine. According to Roman historian Plutarch, Spartacus was sold to a gladiator school run by a man named Lentulus Batiatus (played in the movie by Peter Ustinov). 2) Spartacus apparently did not meet his wife at the gladiator school. He was already married at the time he was sold as a slave, and his wife was also sold as a slave. 3) Spartacus' slave army suffered greatly from an internal strife which eventually led to its defeat by Crassus' legions. (This internal strife was not even mentioned in the movie.) Spartacus and his followers within the slave army wanted to flee from Italy and disband the army outside the Roman territory so all the foreign slaves can return home. Others wanted to remain in Italy and keep on looting. 4) In the movie, Spartacus forbade his men from forcing Roman prisoners to fight as gladiators. However, real Spartacus apparently made many Roman captives to fight in gladiator fights. 5) Both Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and his brother Gaius Sempronius Gracchus, famous pro-plebian reformers, died decades before Spartacus' revolt. The film is unclear as to whether the Charles Laughton character is Tiberius or his brother. 6) Crassus' last decisive campaign against Spartacus was more complex and time-consuming than what was portrayed in the movie. It involved building dozens of miles of fortifications near the southern tip of Italy and decimation (i.e. execution of one in ten soldiers) of his own defeated legions for cowardice.
However, these historical inaccuracies did not lessen the value of this movie. The cry for freedom by Spartacus and other slaves 2000 years ago can be clearly heard through this movie. All lovers of Roman epic should see this movie!