"Gladiator" dir. By Ridley Scott (2000)

Themes:

Masculinity, virtus (the Roman ideal of honor), Rome (What is Rome? What is the greatness of Rome?), life and death, survival, violent struggle

Motifs:

SPQR (“the senate and people of Rome”) on the Eagles, birds, Elysium, dirt/earth (the dirt Maximus rubs between his hands before battle), rose petals

Stakes:

Strength and honor, power and glory of Rome, life and death

Narrative structure:

Emotional need plot line?

Maximus’ desire to get home and see his family

Material goal plot line?

1. To restore Rome to a Republic, thus fulfilling Marcus Aurelius’ wish
2. To avenge Maximus’ family // kill Commodus

Act 1:

Begins with which scene? Far From Home  (see attached list of scenes)

Ends with which scene? A Soldier’s Death

What are the initiating events?

1. Marcus Aurelius’ appointment of Maximus as Rome’s Protector
2. The murder of Marcus Aurelius and Maximus’ family

What is the complicating event?

1. The attempted murder and subsequent enslavement of Maximus

Act 2:

Begins with which scene? Mark of The Legion

Ends with which scene? Win the Crowd

What are the adjustments in material and emotional goals?

At the beginning of Act 2, the material goal (Protect Rome and avenge his family) seems all but unattainable, and the emotional goal (Return to Family) is attainable only through death.

By the end of Act 2, when Maximus realizes he will have a chance to “meet the emperor,” he has reason to believe he may at least be able to attain the material goal of avenging his family before his death.

Act 3:

Begins with which scene? I Shall Cheer for You

Ends with which scene? Home Again

What is the goal climax?

Both material goals become possible when Maximus wins the crowd (and thus Rome) and the Senators Gracchus and Gaius along with Lucilla realize Maximus’ potential as a revolutionary. In killing Commodus Maximus can both avenge his family and restore the Republic. These material goals are met at the same time that he achieves his emotional goal of reunion with his family, when he meets Commodus in the gladiatorial arena.

Epilogue:

As Juba buries the icons of Maximus’ family in the black dirt of the Coliseum, the sun sets, the Coliseum is darkened, and the camera pulls away for a long shot.

List of Scenes

I Far From Home (Main Title)

II Hell Unleashed

III You Have Missed the War

IV A Pleasant Fiction

V One More Duty

VI You Will Not Be Emperor

VII Hail Caesar

VIII A Soldier’s Death

IX Mark of the Legion

X Gladiators, I Salute You

XI Battle in Chains

XII The Greatness of Rome

XIII Win the Crowd

XIV I Shall Cheer for You

XV The Battle of Carthage

XVI My Name is Gladiator

XVII Terribly Vexed

XVIII A Man for the People

XIX Maximus the Merciful

XX You Simply Won’t Die

XXI The Last Wish of a Dying Man

XXII I’m an Entertainer

XXIII Busy Little Bee

XXIV Shadows and Dust

XXV Am I Not Merciful?

XXVI Death Smiles at Us All

XXVII Home Again

XXVIII Now We Are Free (End Credits)

Cast of Characters

Maximus (Russell Crowe), Marcus Aurelius’ Spanish general

Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), emperor of Rome 161-180.

Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), son of Marcus Aurelius, emperor 180-192.

Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), the daughter of Marcus Aurelius and sister of Commodus.

Juba (Djimon Hounsou), Maximus’ fellow gladiator

Proximo (Oliver Reed), a former gladiator and the magister (owner) of Maximus’ ludus (gladiatorial school)

Gracchus (Derek Jacobi), senator (pro-Republic)

Falco (David Schofield), senator (pre-Empire)

Gaius (John Shrapnel) senator (pro-Republic)

Lucius (Spencer Treat Clark), the son of Lucilla.

Quotes

What is Rome?

• Rome is a “dream”
  • MAXIMUS: 5,000 of my men are out there in the freezing mud. 3,000 are cleaved and bloodied. 2,000 will never leave this place. I will not believe they fought and died for nothing.
    MARCUS: And what would you believe?
    MAXIMUS: They fought for YOU and for Rome.
    MARCUS: And what is Rome, Maximus?
    MAXIMUS: I have seen much of the rest of the world. It is brutal and cruel and dark. Rome is the light.
    MARCUS: Yet you have never been there. You have not seen what it has become. I am dying, Maximus. When a man sees his end he wants to know that there has been some purpose to his life. How will the world speak my name in years to come? Will I be known as the philosopher, the warrior, the tyrant. Or will I be remembered as the Emperor who gave Rome back her true self? There was once a dream that was Rome, you could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish. It was so fragile and I fear that it will not survive the winter.
• Rome is a “vision”
  • COMMODUS: Who deign to lecture me?
    LUCILLA: Commodus, the senate has its uses.
    COMMODUS: What uses? All they do is talk. Talk. ...It should have been only me, and you, and Rome.
    LUCILLA: Don't even think that, Commodus. There has always been a senate....
    COMMODUS: Rome has changed. It takes an Emperor to rule an empire.
    LUCILLA: Of course, but leave the people their....
    COMMODUS: Illusions?.
    LUCILLA: ...traditions.
    COMMODUS: My father's war against the barbarians, he said himself it achieved nothing. But people still loved him.
    LUCILLA: People always love victories.
    COMMODUS: But why? They don't see the battles? What do they care about Germania?
    LUCILLA: They care about the greatness of Rome.
    COMMODUS: Greatness of Rome? But what is that?
    LUCILLA: It's an idea, greatness. Greatness is a vision.
    COMMODUS: Exactly. A vision. I will give the people a vision and they will love me for it. They will soon forget the tedious sermonizing of a few dry old men. I will give them the greatest vision of their lives.
• “Rome is the mob.”
  • GAIUS: Games! 150 days of games!
    GRACCHUS: He's cleverer than I thought.
    GAIUS: Clever. The whole of Rome would be laughing at him if they weren't in fear of his Praetorian.
    GRACCHUS: Fear and wonder. A powerful combination.
    GAIUS: Will the people really be seduced by that?
    GRACCHUS: I think he knows what Rome is. Rome is the mob. He will conjure magic for them and they will be distracted. He will take away their freedom, and still they will roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble floor of the Senate, it is the sand of the Colosseum. He will give them death, and they will love him for it.
• “The mob is Rome.”
  • LUCILLA: The gods have spared you. Today I saw a slave become more powerful than the Emperor of Rome.
    MAXIMUS: The gods have spared me? I am at their mercy with the power only to amuse a mob.
    LUCILLA: That is power. The mob is Rome. And while Commodus controls them he controls everything. Listen to me. My brother has enemies, most of all in the senate. But while the people follow him, no one would dare stand up to him - until you.
• Rome is the dream of Marcus Aurelius
  • MAXIMUS: Quintus, free my men. Senator Gracchus is to be reinstated. There was once a dream that was Rome, it shall be realized. These are the wishes of Marcus Aurelius.

Who is Maximus?

• “Rome’s greatest general”
• “My name is Gladiator”
  • MAXIMUS: My name is gladiator. [Maximus slowly turns around and begins to walk back to the other gladiators.]

COMMODUS: How dare you show your back to me, SLAVE. You will remove your helmet and tell me your name... [The Praetorian take a ready-stand, and the gladiators, without weapons, move forward ready to fight with Maximus. Maximus stops, takes a deep breath, removes his helmet, and turns to face Commodus.]

MAXIMUS: My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius. Commander of the armies of the North, general of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance in this life or the next.

• A noble man?
  • LUCILLA: : I knew a man once. A noble man. A man of principles, who loved my father and my father loved him. This man served Rome well.
    MAXIMUS: That man is gone. Your brother did his work well.
• “Maximus, the savior of Rome”
• A good man, a soldier of Rome
  • LUCILLA: Is Rome worth one good man's life? We believed it once. Make us believe it again. He was a soldier of Rome. Honour him.