Film Portrayal
After watching the 2016
Netflix miniseries-documentary hybrid about Commodus called Roman Empire: Reign of Blood, I began to
think about the ways Emperor Commodus has been depicted in film. In the hit
movie, Gladiator, released in 2000,
Commodus was portrayed as an incestuous snob who murdered his father, the great
philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius. At
the end of that movie, Commodus was killed in a gladiatorial battle with the
masses of Rome in audience. It made great cinema, but it was hardly a factual
depiction of Commodus’ reign.
Netflix’s Roman Empire: Reign of Blood was much
more factual, but there were noticeable differences between what the historians
featured on the show said, compared to how the filmmakers recreated the scenes.
The information provided by the historians was spot-on, but the filmmakers
could not help but make the scenes more elaborate. The two scenes that really
stood out in this regard were Commodus fighting as a gladiator and the depiction
of his assassination. In the show’s gladiatorial scenes, Commodus was shown to
be in dramatic (mostly fair) fights, but historically, Commodus likely only
fought the crippled, the injured or the incapacitated in the arena. If he
actually fought against skilled opponents, he would win by forfeit without any
real combat. As to Commodus’ assassination, Gladiator
and Roman Empire: Reign of Blood,
both set the scene up as a final hand-to-hand combat showdown between the
emperor and a gladiator, while history claims that Commodus was strangled by
his wrestling instructor while bathing.
Yet, criticism is not the aim
of this article. In the following paragraphs, read about the life and reign of
Commodus and determine for yourselves if the historical Commodus is more
interesting and bizarre than the interpretations provided by filmmakers.
Read about the real Emperor Commodus, HERE.
Read about the real Emperor Commodus, HERE.
No comments :
Post a Comment