Product: Gladiator [VHS] (2000)
Rating: 5.0
Review of Gladiator
Gladiator completely absorbed me with not a moment's lack of interest. The beginning that starts in battle is the way human life starts - not born free but struggling and requiring courage and dedication and hard work to master and learn. The film is in the tradition of the Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserables with its human suffering, and Audie Murphy's story with its incredible courage in the face of the seemingly unconquerable odds. It also gives a side of the Ancient Roman army that provides food for thought - it may well be that the army was more courageous than the politicians and their followers (does this seem to parallel modern times?) who misused it and sent it to fight their battles. I also like the idea that you need to live in other people's shoes so to speak in order to understand them - the slavery of Rome looked very different when seen from the inside than from the outside. The inconsistencies that some reviewers have noticed in the story seem to me less important than the consistencies and the similarities with our times. I would have given this film the Academy Award, although I think that it would be better to give several awards for best motion picture.