Strong Characters - Gladiator

Gladiator tells the story of an experienced officer heading a division of the Roman army. Emperor Marcus Aurelius trusts him so much he decides to make him his successor instead of his own son Commodus. In his own words, "Commodus is not a moral man. He cannot rule. He must not rule!"

Maximus

This is our protagonist. He is the Super General, the accomplished soldier in every way. A professional who carries with him experience extensive enough to teach other generals in the Roman army. No kidding.

That is a character that I love. He does not just "command the loyalty of the army" (as said by Marcus Aurelius), he inspires admiration from the men at his command. He looks more like a father tapping a shoulder or a chest here and there among the ranks.

Maximus is the quintessential good guy. This is established in the first few shots of the movie. This very expertly creates a bond with the audience: that is a man we can follow for 2 and a half hours. Good, skillful and wise, allergic to politics; a family man whose main aspiration is go retire to his farm with his beloved wife and son. What's not to like?

His goal will shift from survival, before his execution, to his family's safety, after his escape, and to revenge as a gladiator, especially when he learns he will fight in the Coliseum in Rome in the presence of the new emperor.

Marcus Aurelius

Even weakened by age and probably disease, Caesar does not look like an insignificant character. He seems to like Maximus's passion for his farm, for his family. Marcus Aurelius forces his last mission onto Maximus, "You are the son that I should have had."

Commodus

The "brother" makes a great villain. He does not have Maximus's skills or experience, and certainly not his righteousness, so he compensates with an evil genius and a thirst for power.

His idea to organize 150 days of games in the Coliseum is a stroke of genius. Senator Gracchus sums it up quite nicely:

GRACCHUS
He'll bring them death and they will
love him for it.

The story kicks off with the conversation between the Emperor and his evil son. Commodus does not hesitate to smother his father, though in tears, frustrated and disappointed by the old man lack of love for him. Commodus takes by force what he believes should have been his, what he has been expecting apparently a long time.

The new emperor is a fake, he thinks he is great. He is corrupt. He is cruel. He is perverse. The creep tries something with his sister Lucilla; and later, when he uncovers her plot, he expects her to provide him with "an heir of pure blood". He is deceitful. But he is not weak. His goal is power and he does not give up until he gets it. So he will put up a fight protecting it.

Quite naturally, Maximus does not play along so Commodus orders his execution. And the roller coaster ride starts.

Lucilla

Charming, sexy, courageous and smart, Lucilla is the love interest. More like the old flame that was never forgotten. She seems still in love.

Her father Marcus Aurelius as a compliment says to her, "if only you had been born a man, what a Caesar you would have made!" Without any sexist idea in mind, I think it is the best compliment a father could make.

She laughs candidly when Maximus says, "I think you have a talent for survival."

In retrospect, she is probably the strongest character in the bunch because of what she has to go through to protect and care for her son Lucius. The child is heir to the throne and as such a threat to Commodus. But more on this later.

Proximo

This picturesque character is the slave owner and fight organizer. His first act on screen, is to grab a slave merchant's balls: the man sold him a pair of male giraffes instead of a couple.

As a former gladiator himself with experience, he takes Maximus under his wings. He is a slave owner, but he is fair, he becomes a good guy by the end.

Senator Gracchus

This is a man who can stand his ground in front of Commodus's madness in the Senate, enough to lead a seditious group. Commodus comes to a senate session with his sword as a show of force. So imagine.

Now a Gladiator

In the arena we meet an assorted group of more rugged characters. It is a tough world and only the strong can survive. Maximus quickly shines once again as a leader, admired and respected. Just like in the army.

In the mean time, Commodus works on strengthening his power. This story does not have a damsel in distress. Even as Lucilla needs help from the hero to assure her son's future, she is no weak character by any measure.

The new emperor makes her uncomfortable and she hides it very well. It takes a long time and a very real danger for her fear to get the best of her. She does not break, but she reaches a dead end where only Maximus can help her situation

The fights in the arena paint Maximus as an effective and competent fighter, violent as he must be to win, but not gratuitous.

MAXIMUS
I am required to kill, so I kill.
That is enough.

The perspective of fighting in the coliseum gives his objectives a more concrete end. Revenge is now possible.

He develops friendship with two gladiators in particular, Juba and Hagen. The latter tastes Maximus's food for poison, like a soldier would to protect a respected leader. All gladiators love Maximus (then named Spaniard) because his presence once again inspires loyalty and especially because he genuinely cares for all of them. Whereas Commodus keeps creeping us up with Lucilla and her son; he makes you uncomfortable every time he gets close to her or when he looks at Lucius. Brrr!

Proximo gets into conflict with one of the Coliseum's managers, Cassius. No weak character there either. The kid, Lucius, himself aspires to become a gladiator.

In the Coliseum

The gladiators' first fight is a glorious victory that showcase Maximus's leadership skills once again. He also demonstrate his dedication to protect his men and an blatant absence of respect for the Emperor that makes us smile. He exposes himself to save Hagen from death. He leads the men early on and shares valuable advice to keep them alive. He directs their defense:

MAXIMUS
Whatever comes out of these gates,
we stand a better chance of survival
if we stand together.

A feat they actually pull off. The underdogs take over pretty quickly and they all survive the bloody battle.

Resisting the temptation to attempt to kill the emperor in favor of a better opportunity later, Maximus shows respect for the life and innocence of Lucilla's son, who is too close, between him and Commodus. Wise.

Revealing his face to Commodus and to the entire Coliseum crowd launches the big turning point in the story. His men try to shield him from the menacing praetorians' spears. Loyalty and love again.

Maximus "becomes more powerful than the emperor of Rome." He gets a standing ovation from the crowd and the other slaves.

Commodus is vexed. Lucilla becomes hopeful. The sun shines on her life. Her son's future now looks brighter. She meets Maximus in his cell and we can enjoy some seriously good conflict. She reveals the extend of her fear in that scene. Maximus sympathizes although he refuses to help; he is a slave.

In the second fight, Maximus first refuses to salute Commodus and defies him again by deciding to spare his opponent. And so by his skills and strength alone, he thwarts the emperor's plot to kill him in the arena. Maximus easily defeats Tigris of Gaul, despite the unanticipated tigers.

After the fight, a tense scene between the two men is a joy to watch. Maximus keeps his cool in the face of Commodus's childish provocation and becomes an even larger character.

He encounters Cicero, his servant, who goes out of his way to be noticed by his former master. Unbridled loyalty. Cicero's scarred face make him look tough like the others; the day Maximus was arrested in the beginning, he wanted to protect his master. Maximus shook his head to stop him.

After he meet Gracchus and Lucilla, Maximus rallies Proximo to the cause. Don't you love good conflict! Proximo is not interested until he learns Commodus "killed the man who set [him] free."

Commodus knows

As said earlier, considering what she must protect and her handicap being a woman in Roman society, Lucilla is probably the strongest character in this story.

It is clear that Commodus would not hesitate to hurt her son Lucius if he felt the need. In a frightening scene at the end of act II, he explicitly threatens to hurt him to coerce information from her. The scene plays so well, especially through the heavy use of subtext; we feel Lucilla's predicament.

She's a woman. she's a mother. her son is a threat to Commodus. If the emperor could get rid of Maximus, Lucius would very likely be the next target.

Proximo turns good and dies for Maximus as do several of the gladiators, while Maximus escapes only to spring the emperor's trap.

Maximus prisoner. Loyal Cicero killed. Gracchus imprisoned. Proximo murdered. Gladiators also eliminated or arrested. Lucilla discovered, tamed. Lucius, a hostage to keep her obedient. The bastard wants a son from his sister. No way forward and no way back.

The final 15 minutes promise to be good, but the fight is a no contest. Commodus does not stand a chance. Maximus is too good. He has nothing to lose. As long as he can wield a sword, Commodus will have only one option: die. In the cell before the fight:

MAXIMUS(chuckling)
I knew a man who once said,
"Death smiles at us all. all a man
can do is smile back."

COMMODUS
I wonder, did your friend smile at his
own death?

MAXIMUS
You must know. He was your father

Exquisite dialog.

Even stabbing Maximus does not give him any real advantage. But at this point, he loses the loyalty of his general, Quintus. The fight is fierce, but weakened and injured Maximus prevails easily. Strength and skills. Quintus regains some dignity and refuses to help the emperor.

Finally, Maximus finishes Commodus with his own dagger, in a suddenly silent and frightened arena. He finally can rejoin his family in peace after a long and relentless struggle.

And a side note for the superb, haunting music score by Lisa Gerrard and Hans Zimmer.

Gladiator

Story by David Franzoni

Screenplay by David Franzoni and John Logan and William Nicholson

Directed by Ridley Scott

Rono has been telling and writing stories since high school. His passion have always been graphic novels and movies. He currently reviews the narrative side of movies and comics on his blog http://www.absolutefiction.com.

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Original Posters

You might be surprised by how fervently some collectors pursue original prints of movie posters. However, they're only looking for authentic originals - meaning that they come from the first run of the poster and not a more recent reprint.

Today, there's quite a lot of money that goes into the movie poster collection business. Where do people find these originals though, whether they're for classic movies from decades ago or for hits from more recent years?

eBay is one popular source of original posters; many collectors are offering their originals for sale on the extremely popular auction site. Predictably, however, there are quite a few fakes among the originals and it can be hard to determine which is which.

If you're looking to ensure the authenticity of a poster before making a purchase, check with websites like Heritage Auction Galleries. Sites of this type can help you verify that a poster is an original and guide you in the right direction in purchasing such originals, no matter which era of film they were made for.

Some originals can be worth an incredible amount of money, as much as $200,000! I've seen original posters for classics such as the 30s film The Mummy and King Kong sell for such exorbitant amounts.

It's a viable money-making strategy to buy original posters online and save them to sell for a huge profit later. Autographed posters are especially valuable, so it's best to seek those out. Keep an original movie poster in a safe place for a few decades and you might find it selling for thousands of dollars more than you paid.

That's the great thing about collecting classic items such as original movie posters. You can sit back and watch their value grow as the years pass, and you'll almost certainly end up with a tremendous profit if you give the item a few decades to rise in value.

Worried that you'll pass away before getting the chance to sell off that original poster and reap the rewards? Leave it to your children or grandchildren in your will and testament. They'll certainly appreciate your foresight when they realize that they're holding on to a piece of history worth thousands of dollars.

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Symbols in Eastern Films and Western Science Fiction Films

When talking about the differences in the forms of expressions between eastern and western movies, the most notable feature that must be figured out is the usage of symbols in eastern films and western science fiction films. The frequent usage of symbols in eastern films cannot be found usually in western films.

In generally, symbol methods can be divided into four categories:

A. Visual symbol of the image: in the movie Armageddon, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai are pushing the NianZishan while discussing the war, which is the symbol of pushing the wheels of history; Shear in the film Magic Whip is highlighted as some sort of symbol of the spirit of traditional culture; in the film Red Girl, the eye-catching shapes of red dressed figure is as a symbol of the spirit of moving up;

B. hearing symbol of the image: when Zan Yihong in the film Night goods is getting close to Morgenthau, the roar of a train is a symbol of national righteousness;

C. Combination of visual and hearing symbol of the image: the visual image of the wheelbarrow in the end of the film Accent and hearing the roar train image come across, acting a symbol of the old and the new life's conflict and the inevitability of historical trends.

D. Narrative symbolic image: it mainly refers to the circumstances and details of the symbol. There are overall and partial parts. Film Old Well constructs all the circumstances described in the film to a symbol of a whole part -- the tenacious survival of the Chinese national will. In Old Well, the detail of married Wang Quan inverting urinal appeared three times symbolize him was finally into the tradition.

There are indeed a lot of good movies in Europe and America. Different with eastern films, western films are prone to using the themes of enjoying life and idealistic.

One of the most notable features is the use of special effects- the science fiction film. In the terms of science fiction film, the most important two forms of expressions that used are special-effect technique with the help of science and the shocking scenes or ideas made from imagination and creativity. These three elements are the most highlighted ones by western people, especially Americans.

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The Lost Finale - What is the "Flash Sideways" of Season 6?

Before I get started I want to warn anyone who has yet to watch Lost not to read the rest of this article. You really must avoid all spoilers as much as you can to get the full experience of Lost. A lot of what makes the show so special is the wild surprising ride it takes you on, so there's no reason to ruin that by reading about what happens at the end of the show!

I believe that the final episode of Lost revealed the "sideways" reality of season 6 to be a place that wasn't really "real" but instead a place where the connected characters of the series could reach each other again before going on to whatever is next (the series leaves that part up to your own interpretation.)

To be clear, this means that what happened on the island was indeed real! This does not mean that they were "dead the whole time" as some people who were not paying close enough attention seem to think. Everything that happened in the first five seasons really happened. It is only the sideways reality of season 6 that is a sort of "post-life" world where these people went to try to find each other again.

It's also important to note that Christian (Jack's father) said there is no "now" in the sideways reality. This means that these characters see each other as they knew each other. Even though some of them lived on long after (for example it's implied that Hurley & Ben live long lives after the Lost timeline ends) while others died on the island (Jack, Sayid, Charlie, and many more) they come together in this alternate reality in the way that they knew each other at this very important time in their lives.

What's implied by this (and indeed implied by the entire series) is that these people have some sort of special connection to each other. They were meant to find each other in the real world and they must also find each other in this alternate world. And perhaps they will find each other again in the next world?

The characters were lost not so much on the island, but in their lives before the island. It is on the island where they find each other for the first time and it is in the sideways reality that they find each other again and remember how important it was to find each other the first time.

Lost: Complete Collection.

Lost is available on DVD or Blu-Ray.

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