Product: Gladiator [VHS] (2000)
Rating: 5.0
incredible just incredible
Even the opening credits capture you the moment you see them with the haunted music of a dying empire as the title appears and the opening scene of Russel Crowe as the long suffering contemplative general, every nuance of his face describes his stricken life full of the hard gruesome days fighting barbarians for the last 12 years. So starts one of the greatest films I have seen, with these scences you are caught up immediately in the tale of a great man. Strangely enough the supremely beautiful scene where Maximus the general watches a bird alight on a branch is never mentioned by reviewers, considering its eloquence and almost zen-like aside as life continues in the most horror filled times. The battle scenes are incredible with the full might of the supremely trained and confident Roman army unleashing hell as Crowe put it in the film, such terror the barbarians must have felt being crushed under foot by the superior technological ability of the Romans. The film does not dwell on this but rather fully encapsulates the viewer within the fight scenes as man battles man. Maximus's decline as general in the political battles taking place for Emperorship fling him into slavery and to fight as a gladiator, at every moment Maximus remains human never becoming too much of a hero but staying vulnerable and yet noble and loyal with great strength of character, the sort of man other men would love and follow into battle or anywhere else for that matter. The death of Maximus at the end allows real tears to be shed for a great man indeed. An incredible experience, more than a film. Only "Dances with Wolves" has done this better.