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With this downplaying of the rebel threat, and almost no exploration
of the ideological conflicts inherent within revolutionary movements,
the film’s emphasis falls on a blunt contrast between the peaceful, lifeaffirming
slave brotherhood and the cynical discord among the deathobsessed
Romans. This distinction is austerely expressed in visual setting
and dialogue on the night before the final battle, where shots of Spartacus
addressing the slave army near the sea at Brundisium are intercut with
scenes of Crassus being confirmed as commander of the assembled legions
in Rome (Futrell, 2001, 107–8). While the rebel leader speaks of their
shared experience of freedom, Crassus vows by his deceased ancestors to
subdue the revolt and restore order: “This I have sworn in the temple that
guards their bones.” In the extraordinary carnage after the battle, a victorious
Crassus strides through the piled-up bodies of the fugitive slaves,
who are locked together in a final familial embrace with expressions of
contentment on their faces, like the Christian martyrs in the arena of
Quo Vadis. Earlier, when Spartacus was asked if he would consider the
rebellion worthwhile even if they were defeated, he replies: “A free man
dies, he loses the pleasure of life. A slave loses his pain. Death is the only
freedom a slave knows. That’s why he’s not afraid of it. That’s why we’ll
win.” The film closes with a much-simplified yet uncontroversial message:
though the rebels are overwhelmed by the superior martial might of Rome,
they win a larger moral victory with their heroic sacrifice for a noble
cause.
Given such sharp political scrutiny, the film’s narrative succeeds in confronting
many issues important to liberal America in the early 1960s. Just
as previous epic films used the depiction of repressive Roman rule to
allude to the terror of the McCarthy years, Spartacus projects its ideal of
human solidarity mindful of the severe punishments suffered by writers
Fast and Trumbo as a result of the HUAC hearings just the decade before
(Wyke, 67). In a famous scene after the concluding battle, Crassus threatens
the slaves with execution unless they identify the rebel leader. As
Spartacus rises to surrender himself, first Antoninus then thousands of
chained slaves stand up and shout: “I am Spartacus!” The scene recalls
and celebrates the heroism of artists who refused to “name names” when
ordered by the committee to inform on their associates, and so faced the
vindictive reprisals of incarceration and the blacklist; for their show of
fraternal unity in tribute to their leader, the slaves in the film are crucified
as an example against defiance. Even the self-absorbed Batiatus refuses
to incriminate Spartacus at great personal cost: “Anyone who believes
that I’ll turn informer for nothing is a fool – I bore the whip without
SPARTACUS (1960) 117