I'am Spartacus ! I'am Spartacus ! I'am Spartacus!

Rating: 9/10 (4 May 2008)

The Roman State, was a God Less conquerer of any peoples with whom it fought.A virtual slave state whose slaves were not Jews, they were not Negroes, these were the peoples of conquered nations.Rome was without hope,and slavery bore this out.In the beginning there was Spartacus for whom the end of his place on this earth was drawing near.Spartacus,played by Kirk Douglas was seemingly spared death at least for a time when a slave trader played by Peter Ustinov purchased him and a number of other slaves.They were spared the indignity of dying without dignity though now they were to be trained as gladiators.A fierce fighter who training skills were like a well mannered butcher.The often times grueling training that these persons,slaves one and all was having an affect as some knew better and swore by a code that they would not kill the other.This virtual brotherhood was thematic in its treatment with Spartacus very early on nearly dying in an attempt to relieve the suffering of a slave who had just fallen to the ground when Roman Guards struck blows about the body of Spartacus for the attempt to assist a fallen slave.The slave was not necessarily a male, women,or even child.It is interesting to watch how Spartacus and a women named Varinia(played by Jean Simmons)get to know each other.There scenes for the most part are very dramatically portrayed,often moving even to the touch and if eyes could talk they surely talked the talk if you will.Jean Simmons as Varinia was moving dramatically and on par with some very excellent emotional interplay with the man whom, all called out, I'am Spartacus I'am Spartacus.Though this is not in jest this is a real romance and it is convincing.There is such detail and care that it would not matter when you were to look upon their scenes together,though the crucification is difficult to own up to.It is a real tug and a real sentiment that I did not disagree with.It is further worth mentioning of how decadent a world it is when it looks upon the human kind as slave.It is this terribly innocuous folly that is conducted at the gladiator school when guests the like accompany General Crassus(played by Lawrence Olivier) stop by and want two pairs of gladiators to fight till the death.The persons in attendance are Roman Elite and though money is paid for this exhibition it provides a change in the atmosphere at the school where there motto was that no gladiator would die in training at the school.The thematic material is here made evident and a heroic position is taken front stage.I believe it is Woody Strobe who plays Draba(triton-weapon).It serves to further the unrest though I would guess you can push a human being just so far before a revolt occurs and the gladiators never look back.The revolt spreads and though payback is a bitch it is highly any the more of what it was until that point in time when Spartacus becomes the leader of this revolt.Spartacus is interesting because the landscape requires a broad stroke and it is a broad stroke that this film never seems to fill.There is much to this film which is the equal to mob rule and though Spartacus leads,he leads an army of slaves(free or not)(some children,women,elderly)against what is a most certain death.The end draws near and helpless as the lot of humanity may be they still are lead to near annihilation.There is effective storytelling that is portrayed by one Antoninus played by Tony Curtis and yet the end indeed is again portrayed as a most certain death.If there is any point would it not be that Rome was a murderously ruthless thug whose predilection for the perverse and the corrupt are here made real.Rome is again ruled not by the rule of presumably the Law but by the conquering while all the while maintaining a slave state.There is much to the conceit of this film,that Rome knew no lover and that the inability to love at all though a lessor trait Rome possessed.It was not able to provide something that was not its by way of a conquered state.Slavery you see is without life with Spartacus leading not unto glory but unto a most certain death.Is this a film worth anything at all? There are more than one scene whereby the film put forward a sentiment that we are told is real and that even upon death Antoninus expresses a Love that is endearing upon the heart, forever does this abide.There is an attempt to provide a time ago.Antoninus at a fireside chat shows that bravery is more than a loud voice but of a tender heart as well.He tells of the longing to go home.He tells of when it was that he could go home.With this slave state, life for these hundreds upon thousands now had no home, and life was at a very effective juncture.This is not entirely seen however that was not to last as like the beginning the end was drawing near.This film possesses those worthwhile attributes and it is those worthwhile attributes that allow this film to achieve a bit of a victory in defeat.Rome was a soul less entity whose idea of imagination bore witness to a theft like the world even up to this very day had never scene.Rome pillaged the very world that it sought to enslave and not much more was her legacy outside of her call for Roman Law.This is a long day indeed.The lot of humanity that is told of hereby knew now that a long day had come. A time from a time ago was about to pass without knowledge of our way and our day with our father who art in heaven.It provides the telling of the beginning and the end to a slave revolt.It certainly was not ignored and at least for a time it wont be again.