Big Screen Rome - Amazon Web Services

techniques. Several spectacular elements in this battle are intended to recall
and overturn the opening sequence in Germania, with the reversal underscoring
the degradation of Maximus’ military skills. The performance staged
in the arena replaces the true glory of Rome. “The beating heart of Rome
is not the marble of the Senate,” observes Senator Gracchus grimly, “it is
the sand of the Colosseum.”
For the battle of Carthage, the gladiators enter the arena in a narrow
shot from inside the athletes’ tunnel or “chute,” emerging from the darkness
of the equipment rooms to the dazzling light of a Roman day, in a
camera view typical at the start of televised sporting events. Proximo, who
soon realizes his men are to play the role of doomed barbarians against
the victorious legions of Scipio Africanus, watches through a broad horizontal
slit in his mid-level loge business box, like a modern general manager
who hopes his underdog team can mount a decent stand against
an undisputed champion franchise. The mock battle is shot in diverse
angles familiar from television sports: from a blimp’s-eye view above the
stadium, from the end-zones with rotating goalpost cameras, from the
sidelines with hand-held cameras trained on individual competitors, and
from gladiatorial helmet-cams. Maximus knows who wins the historical
African battle, so when he sees they are to be slaughtered for the crowd’s
amusement, he instantly and expertly assumes the role of general to
organize his ragtag troops. “Whatever comes out of these gates,” he urges
them, “we have a better chance if we work together!” The display of the
gladiators’ unity and valor under the leadership of Maximus evokes the
film’s opening military combat. The gladiators lock their shields to form
the testudo or “turtle,” just as the trained soldiers did in Germania, and as
General Maximus rode among his legions into battle against the northern
barbarians, the triumphant gladiator Maximus mounts a white horse for a
victory lap around the arena.
As the crowd goes wild with applause for the newcomers’ unexpected
win, Commodus, watching from the imperial box, asks the show’s producer
in a derisive tone: “My history’s a little hazy, Cassius, but shouldn’t
the barbarians lose the battle of Carthage?” The unhistorical “come from
behind win” in the battle of Carthage scene inverts the axis between winners
and losers, between Romans and barbarians. This startling reversal
pays homage to classic Hollywood underdog sports films, like David
Anspaugh’s Hoosiers (1986) and John Lee Hancock’s The Rookie (2002),
where a downtrodden or disadvantaged team or player is shown to succeed
against all odds. These films always include a climactic “big game”
sequence in which the underrated but feisty player or team achieves their
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