GLADIATOR

I watched a movie named Gladiator on TV. Gladiators are men that are chosen according to their physical strength to fight in an arena. They have to fight against each other in order to kill each other. The survivor is the winner. Sometimes wild animals like lions are included in the fight. Those cruel fights are set up in order to entertain people. At that time, the nation was very fond of violent battles and gladiators were popular in Roma. It takes place in grandiose theatre called the coliseum of Roma. The emperor, Commode or Cesar, they call him both, is a character with a disturbed personality. He killed his father in order to succeed him and it seems that he wants to have an intimate relation with his sister. Since their father died, she has been living in fear of her brother. Russel Crowe is the main gladiator. His name is Maximus, and he also is called The Spanish. He was a successful general in an army, before being forced to be a slave and a gladiator. It is a very deep movie with such themes as death, bravery, slavery, relationships, loyalty and political power. It portrays the culture and the traditions of the nation of Roma at this time. This movie made me feel a little nostalgic about Niger and my life before leaving Niger, because we discussed this movie in Latin class in Niger. It was part of the course. My teacher’s name was Assemat. She came from Italia I think. She is an outstanding teacher, very passionate. I wonder if she still teaches in Niger. It was an option that I took because my parents wanted to. On the long run, I learned to like it. But Latin is a dead language. It means that people don’t speak Latin. They just study it. At that time, I did not see the importance of learning Latin. Later, when I passed my Baccalaureat in Paris, I was happy that I studied Latin because it allowed me to have extra credit. Words in Latin look like amicus, amicae, amicum, bella, nostrum ect.. Lots of words in French come from Latin. Sometimes I miss those classes because it was so interesting to decipher the meaning of Latin words and because my classmates and my teachers were amazing. I wish I could take this course again.

To go back to the main point, gladiator is really a good movie. The complexity of the character of Cesar is very surprising and interesting in this movie. Also, gladiators really existed in the history of Roma. It is not a fiction.