Gladiator History vs Hollywood
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The year 2000 saw the Roman Empire return to the big screen in the movie Gladiator. This film looks correct with its costumes and sets, but suffers from inaccuracies in the dialogue and some details. The historical accuracy of the plot in Gladiator is hindered by the fact that its star character, Maximus, is fictional. This caused the writers to make the historical characters act in response to Maximus in ways they didn't have to in real life. The movie, therefore, borrows themes from different times in Roman History to make the plot somewhat believable. The final battle between Commodus and Maximus is more truthful than it looks, as Commodus was obsessed with gladiator battles and was an accomplished swordsman. The bottom line is, Gladiator did not set out to be a historical epic, it is just the same old action-revenge movie that is focusing on entertainment value and happens to be set in the Roman Empire.
The plot of Gladiator has many Roman themes in it, but does not stick to the historical record for the time period the movie is set in. Gladiator starts out in the final days of the emperor Marcus Aurelius' reign. The Roman army is finishing off a long war with the Germanic tribes...