Rome

[poliphilo]

My impression of Julius Caesar is that he was a charismatic, vulgar, life-and-soul-of-the-party sort of man- therefore not very much like the reserved, elder statesman played by Ciaran Hinds in Rome. But like I say, it's only an impression- I haven't studied the subject- maybe Hinds is right and I am wrong.

I liked Kenneth Cranham's Pompey. Cranham is a remarkably ugly man who has grown into his looks. Also a remarkably fine actor. He doesn't have very much to do, but when he's on screen he fills it. Maybe this'll make him a star.

But what's really special about this series is its texture. The legions fight in proper, machine-like, Roman order, advancing in line with their sword arms going in and out like pistons; an aristocratic lady shags her boyfriend in a bed surrounded by slaves- one working the punkah, another handing out cooling drinks; there's mud in the streets and the buildings are weathered. In terms of how it looks and feels, Rome effortlessly clears the bar that Gladiator raised.

And when it comes to ethos it's a huge improvement. The characterisation in Gladiator was simplistic- Russell Crowe was good and noble, everybody else was shite. Here we get moral complexity. Our heroes are a couple of military toughies- an unthinking, good-natured jar-head and his puritanical commanding officer. Neither is a nice chap by modern standards. The puritan heads up a crufixion squad, the jarhead collects teeth as battlefield trophies. OK, so there will be anachronism- there always is- but at least it's not going to take the form of leading characters with pansy-arsed, twenty-first century scruples.

I think I'll be sticking with this.

Comments

[pickwick.livejournal.com]

Argh, I forgot to watch! Wonder if it's repeated...

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Hinds' Caesar was OK by my book. Basically, the man was ruthlessly ambitious, and he'd drink with his men if necessary to advance that, but similarly put great stock by his personal prestige and status for the same reason.

I'm very much in agreement with your reaction, generally - especially your comparison with Gladiator, and the moral complexity of Pullo and Vorenus. I think we'll have a lot of fun watching how their relationship with one another develops.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Apparently, most of his men adored him and no woman was safe around him (and not several men as well).

[seaslug-of-doom.livejournal.com]

What is this show called? I'm going to see if I can find it on Netflix.

[(Anonymous)]

I like it a lot, myself - and the pullo and varenus characters really seem to grow in warmth and complexity as the series goes on (at first I thought, oh great, it's another 'good cop bad cop' cliche pairing). I also like the way they've tried to make roman religion a big part of it - as well as the slavery and class systems, and whereas it might not be entirely accurate, it does at least make the period seem strange, which is what so many historical films fail to do.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

I think it's by far the best thing I've seen about Rome. Pullo and Varenus are certainly triff, I like Niobe's unconscious vulgarity, and I worry about Brutus, he's so obviously constipated from overthinking everything. I don't care for one or two of the casting choices, but it's chock full of superb actors. The writing is very strong, too; you wouldn't especially notice that the director changes every week unless you watched the credits.

[manfalling.livejournal.com]

yah they`re up to like epsiode 9 or something in the states.

suetonius, god! that was torture in latin class. divus augustus, interminable, senseless, convoluted, translation-homework-copying-from-the-puffin-translation-rather-than-do-yourself vocabulary ridden gumph! perhaps reading it already translated, that might be better.

i wanna see more grandure in ROME. yah they built all that stuff, but they aren`t showcasing it. i want some huge aerial views, a bit more scope in the direction. i want to get the feeling of empire, as well as of a big city. but hell, i don`t even get that. ROMe is huge, but the forum they have built seems pretty claustrophobic. i was thinking it was at least a couple of soccer fields big. maybe i was wrong. that`s what i wanted tho. just- more height, scale, size, etc...

but yah it`s fun. pullo starts off crap-acting i felt, but he`s getting better.