Big Screen Rome - Amazon Web Services

like her, find varying degrees of success. In the sleek, shaded costumes
designed by Oscar-winner Janty Yates, with their haute simplicity and East
Indian-inspired touches, the graceful figure of Lucilla evokes the languid
luxury and urban affluence of ancient Rome in a way that modern followers
of fashion can appreciate.
Another character that underscores Maximus’ progress along his hero’s
journey is the owner of the gladiator school, Proximo. British actor Oliver
Reed, most memorable from his role in the multi-Oscar-winning film
Oliver! (1968), plays the cagey, exuberant ex-gladiator who superbly embodies
the professional entertainer’s love/hate relationship with the audience.
“Thrust this into another man’s flesh,” he says, holding up a sword,
“and they will applaud and love you for that. You may even begin to love
them.” Most critics agree had Reed not died, his bold performance in this
film would have revived his career. The character of Proximo in Gladiator
recalls similar lanista figures from earlier epic films, such as Batiatus in
Spartacus. These tough, hardhearted characters customarily deliver imposing
speeches to their enslaved men emphasizing the theme of fighting
well in the arena to attain a noble death. “In the end, we’re all dead men,”
Proximo tells his gladiators. “Sadly, we cannot choose how, or when. But
what we can choose is how we decide to meet that end, so we are remembered
forever as men.”
Yet Proximo’s status as a former gladiator, one who was freed by Marcus
Aurelius, grants him particular insight and closely connects him to the
experience of Maximus, and Maximus is surprised to find himself emotionally
drawn to this man who presides over his rebirth into his new
public role. Proximo takes over the parental function left vacant by the
death of Marcus Aurelius, and his colorful rhetoric is permeated with
the language of transitions and parenthood. “I shall be closer to you for
the next few days, which will be the last of your miserable lives, than that
bitch of a mother who first brought you screaming into this world!”
he barks at his new purchases. “And just as your mother was there at your
beginning, I shall be there at your end.”
Through his friendship with Proximo, Maximus is confronted with the
image of a man whose fate might be his, if Rome were to remain in
corrupt and unjust hands: “Marcus Aurelius had a dream that was Rome,
Proximo,” he cries before entering the ring to wrestle tigers. “This is not
it!” Maximus realizes he cannot tolerate this debasement of Rome, and he
ultimately decides that achieving his personal vengeance against Commodus
is compatible with the role of savior the old emperor wanted him to
undertake. Proximo is the unwitting midwife present at the birth of the
GLADIATOR (2000) 237