Gladiator (2000)



There are those who will argue that we are still the culture of the Roman Empire. That is not completely true, as Tom Holland argues in “Dominion,” we are wholly different from the Romans due to Christianity. However, we are the descendants of Rome. One of the ways this is evident is in our total obsession with entertainment, spectacle, distraction.

The romans used entertainment and spectacle to keep the populace happy, distracted, and subdued. Panis et circensis is the phrase that was used back then, “bread and circuses.” Today we aren’t much different. We stare at our phones whenever we are awake. It is a bit surreal and scary when you stop and notice it. Seventeen years ago, people chuckled at the humans in Wall-e. Today that prophetic movie is more unsettling than funny.

Another movie that played with these ideas, 25 years ago now, was 2000’s Gladiator. That movie was about—in part—the way that the entertainment of the arena was there to distract the empire from the corruption and evil in the system. Yet it was itself an entertainment, a spectacle, a circus for the masses.

The film was a pretty great one, however, because it commented on this and other themes, including good leadership, what good government should be, justice, holding evil rulers accountable, etc. It also had great visuals and depictions of the ancient world. (For its time.) It had great character development in both the hero and antagonist. It holds up to repeated rewatches. How do all of these themes and messages work out for 2024’s sequel?

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