Gladiator was a near-perfect movie. It had a gorgeous score by Hans Zimmer, exquisite costumes, a dark semi-Oedipus complex plot at its core, battles, and romance. It conjured up questions around corruption, democracy, family and loyalty and had faultless casting with Russell Crowe as a gladiator, Joaquin Phoenix as a nefarious emperor and Derek Jacobi as a Roman senator.
It was also, kind of, historical – it was treated as a documentary by my Latin teacher at least, who played it every year towards the end of the term. For history buffs and geeks, it’s still the closest we’ve got to seeing the staggering Ancient Rome in the flesh.
