Spartacus Spartacus is a historical epic film showing the rise and fall of a slave revolt in the Roman Empire. The film follows the life of the Thracian slave, Spartacus, from his purchase by a trainer of gladiators and his leadership of the revolt to the climactic battle with the Roman Army and his eventual crucifixion at the order of Crassus. The Film stars Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton and a host of other stars. The film was released in 1960, and it won four Oscars. The film won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Costume Design, Color; and Best Supporting Actor, Peter Ustinov.
Spartacus is one of three films that cover the transition of Rome from Republic to Empire. The movie is historically correct in the overall story about Spartacus, but because not much is know about the characters individuality, the presentation of their character is fictional. The characters were improved to meet the requirements that Hollywood puts on them. For example, not much is known about Varinia, Spartacus’ wife, but she is believed to be a Thracian.
There is a very little possibility that she was a Briton as she was portrayed in the film, because the Romans do not invade Briton for another 20 years after the slave uprising. Spartacus was born and eventually sold into slavery. He was born in the Roman city of Thrace. It was there where he joined and later deserted the ever powerful army of Rome. In 71 B. C.
The Essay on The Value of Ancient Roman Slaves
The Ancient Roman Value of Slaves Trey Evans Louisiana State University at Alexandria Slaves played a crucial role in not only the construction of ancient Rome but also in the everyday lives of Rome’s citizens. Without slaves, everyday life and even government in ancient Rome would not have been the same (Brown, 2009, p. 1231). “Slavery has been used throughout history, but at no other time in ...
, after being caught as a deserter of the Roman army, he was sold as a slave to a gladiator trainer in Capua. He was then, trained as a gladiator for the spectators at coliseums. He was trained well and soon escaped from the tight grip of slavery. In 73 B.
C. , he and his fellow gladiator trainees escaped to the safety of the fabled Mount Vesuvius. There, he and his small group of followers met up with thousands of runaway slaves like themselves to form an army to free the slaves and attempt to escape from the Roman Empire. The image portrayed by Spartacus has a definite mythological feel to it. He is the typical Hollywood hero that is honorable, loyal, and strong. He is just what the slave’s need, someone to look up to and believe in.
The other main characters in the movie also have a mythological presents. They are loyal to Spartacus at the end of the movie and will not allow the Romans to find out who he is. They are the mythological loyal servants to Spartacus. There was very little abuse of imagination.
The biggest of the abuses were how the characters were portrayed. That is something that very little can be known about, because we have very little knowledge about how these individual actually lived. But besides the characters the movie in general had an overall feel as to how everything in the Roman Empire actually was. The idea of colonization played an important role in Spartacus. Because that is what the slaves truly wanted. They wanted to be apart of something.
They wanted to live there own lives freely and not under the power of who owned them. So as the movie moved on colonization started growing threw out the slave community. The concept of reception in the movie was Spartacus and the other slaves attempting to take back the God given right of freedom. Though they did not succeed they put up one last fight to show that they would do anything for what they believed in. If this film was made today, I do not see to many differences beside which actors would get to play the characters and of course the special effects would be better. Russell Crow would continue his role of a gladiator and play Spartacus and Salma Hayek would play Varinia.
But the biggest difference I believe would have to be how the romans would be portrayed. Since we are at war with terror right now, the Romans would defiantly be made to be hated more than they were in the original Spartacus. They would be shown lying, cheating, and stealing to beat the slave revolt.
The Essay on War Horse from Book, Movie and Play
Have you ever witnessed a well-adapted animal thriving in its environment? Well similarly when a book is transformed into a movie or play it needs to be adapted so that it can thrive in its environment. For example if you read a great book and when you watch the movie you see every scene that you read in the book, the movie won’t be so good. There are many examples in which we see a movie or play ...
