Product: Gladiator [VHS] (2000)
Rating: 5.0
Great film, with slight apologies to history
Gladiator is a great film, a must for anyone's library if they call themselves a student of film, history and/or entertainment in general.The film is a beautiful representation of the Rome of our dreams and a brief period, the age of Commodus, within that grand vista. The film did take several liberties from the truth:1-Commodus was not a scheming adult but a bit of a lad when he became emperor; there is no evidence he did or could eliminate his father.2-The man that killed Commodus was not an erudite military general but instead a crude brute wrestler, hired by conspirators to do the job.3-His sister was not a victim of Commodus; indeed, she conspired to have him killed; he caught her 1st and had her exiled from Rome.4-Far from being treacherous, Commodus was a relative "babe in the woods" who was assailed by conspiratorial senators who "missed" several times until that "wrestler" ended his reign, in a hot tub of all places.