RECOMMENDATION AND SYNOPSIS OF THE FILM

The Roman Empire will be in people's minds and therefore in the movies for many years. 
It is an inexhaustible source of stories, of heroic epics and miserable betrayals, of epic 
conquests and overwhelming defeats, of wars and peace, of literature, poetry and humanism; 
of measured and explosive behaviors. Our languages, our laws, many of our customs, 
the very nations of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia are largely inherited from 
the provinces and Roman conquests. For all this and much more we have the Roman 
Empire for a while in the cinema and in our culture.

Gladiator followed several famous and award-winning films on the Roman Empire, 
notably The Fall of the Roman Empire (Anthony Mann, 1964), Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960)
 and Ben Hur (William Wyler, 1959) and takes of them scenes and stories. In fact,
 the director commented that Spartacus and Ben-Hur were part of his youth 
(as was also the case for many of us veteran movie lovers). Ridley Scott envisioned his film,
 produced almost at the beginning of the new millennium, as a source of inspiration for
 audiences to approach the Roman Empire in one of its moments of great military and philosophical
 power, under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius and in the beginning of decadence, under the disastrous
 command of his son Comfortable.

The plot is very attractive and witty. In it, the central protagonist, Máximo, travels all possible paths.
 In the beginning he is an outstanding Roman general of extraordinary feats, but deep down in his 
soul he is a farmer, a devout believer in ancestral manners and a loving home man. By chance of 
fate and the malicious arts of his powerful enemy, the new Emperor Commodus, Máximo loses everything,
 his murdered family, his life and his estate in ruins. Half dead and wounded, after an assassination 
attempt ordered by the cunning emperor, he is picked up by a gang of traffickers who sell him to a
 gladiator company in a Roman province in North Africa, which makes him one more gladiator, 
one of so many who serve as entertainment to the crowds before dying in any unknown combat. 
However, Máximo is an experienced fighter and an expert in fighting, who does not resign 
himself to death and who, little by little, is climbing the ranks in this dangerous profession 
until he becomes the most famous gladiator of the Empire, standing out in the very headquarters of the 
bloody battles of the Roman blood circus, the impressive Colosseum, which the film recreates at its peak.

What does this film give us, so that a reunion with him is worthwhile? I want to highlight it as a journey
 through the environments of war, which bring us closer to the intimacies of combat and strategy, 
staged in the struggles between the Germanic tribes and the disciplined Roman legions, through
 an epic battle in the forests. With rich detail we appreciate the weapons and military gadgets 
that were used on the Roman side; crossbows, swords, spears, catapults, fireballs, cavalry, wagons
 and dogs, shields used in perfect formation, elegant helmets, breastplates and uniforms. 
All encouraged by the determined leadership of generals who fought together with their men, 
who were aware of each event. In contrast, the Germanic tribes only had, according to the 
history that we are told, with their impetuous and disorderly bravery, lacking war machines and 
strategies, being expected their sure defeat in the fight with the Romans, as indeed happens .