Films That You Should Have Watched Yesterday - Gladiator (2000)

The Gladiator Way: The Script That Became a Bible, the Music That Became an Anthem and the Movie That Defined a Genre

          No greater gift could have been bestowed upon the world of cinema during the millennial year than Gladiator. Rarely, both before and since the historical epic's theatrical début in May 2000, has every element of the film-making process, from the deeply medicinal original score, to the highly motivational dialogue and the breathtaking shots of a journey marked especially by vicious but still exciting combat sequences and gorgeous scenery, clicked together so brilliantly, as if each element was a vital organ, without any of which the movie's enviable and exemplary staying power in the viewer's heart would fade before even the climax was reached. Yet, in the aftermath of the first viewing, there will no doubt be favourite ingredients among different audiences that will remain fresh even if the film were to be watched at least once a year in an attempt to re-capture the magic, re-ignite a passion for life and people, as well as restore faith in the notion that works of historical fiction, at least in cinema, can and do emulate the depth and the sheer variety of sensibilities celebrated by stories with more contemporary settings, with an equal if not far greater degree of emotional accuracy and integrity than one might have heretofore imagined. Whichever quality of the film marches into their minds first, in any case, the victory achieved is in no small part a consequence of a long and difficult quest undertaken by the artists who crafted the film, who all demonstrated perseverance not far apart from that witnessed in the protagonist, forever wavering in strength but nonetheless remaining determinedly present, right up until the journey's end.               

          The screenplay of Gladiator is packed with lines that people recite on various occasions to this day, even if all that remains of the dialogue's significance is the memory of the context for which it was written, which more often than not is a spectacular battle, featuring a character with nothing to lose against a world reigning fire of all guise upon him until the very record of his existence is buried in blood and sand. "What we do in life echoes in eternity" might have recently been heard by someone giving good cause for their generosity to society, if not for some other divine or motivational purpose. "I will see you again. But not yet. Not Yet." At first glance the plainest arrangement of words that a movie studio could have paid millions of dollars for a trio of screenwriters to settle with for a closing line, until heard during a conclusion that marks the end of a struggle resulting in a sheer exhaustion of emotions on the part of the audience, whose ceaseless routing for the hero has lasted by then for well over two hours. Beyond the grief and the joy such a line consistently denotes hope for the future, particularly the ambitious prospect of keeping the connection of friendship everlasting, both in this life and the next. The screenplay also provided a light touch of humour for a post from The LAD Bible when the quote, "on my signal, unleash hell" went viral not so long ago. Appreciated best with an awareness of the source material, words originally spoken on the battlefield were allegedly declared in the bedroom. Adore or despise them, one will likely hear a decent amount of references to the Gladiator screenplay for many years to come. Humble inspirations, the pursuit for story over historical accuracy, as well as an attentiveness to the emotional similarities and differences between men and women rather than a focus on mindless bloodshed, all join forces to produce a motion picture as sweet as a millionaire's desert. And of course the passionate delivery of such a screenplay by the actors provides the ganache to that desert, so that the movie becomes that much richer. 

When All Else Fails, Say It With This Helmet On - The development of the screenplay proved to be a very trying endeavour. Three screenwriters, David Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson, were required to contribute and compromise repeatedly until the writing was deemed worthy to be spoken in front of a rolling camera. As late as two weeks prior to filming, actors protested against the script's quality, prompting a determination in  everyone involved to ensure that the plot expanded to become about far more than just a barbarian horde in Ancient Rome. To this end, Russell Crowe was at times requested to improvise lines at the last minute that "just flowed well." In his own harsh but honest assessment, he had to "make even garbage [lines] sound good." The final cut of the film is said to be almost entirely different from Franzoni's original draft dated October 1997. Thus, the collaborative effort behind Gladiator, with all of its clumsy dancing of ideas and bitterly conflicting visions taken into consideration, testifies to the notion that success smiles at all us, following the right mixture of hard work and good luck.            

          No element of the film deserves to have its contribution forsaken. However, the at once graceful and then majestically turbulent tides of the original score are what sweep Gladiator onto the ever-shifting shores of the audience's long-term memory. One reason for the score's quality is that it was composed by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard; musicians whose consistently distinct melodic flavours have saved all of their movie from inciting an incomprehensible feeling of emptiness. A second reason for the score's success also assumes the role of the its greatest curse. Debate has raged to this day over the extent to which the classical greats, Gustav Holst and Richard Wagner, influenced the music for the film, arguably resulting in the formation of the key justification in the minds of critics for why the score has surprisingly often been denied recognition as one the finest compositions ever written. Expert knowledge aside, the music is play from the moment the opening titles are set in motion, captivating audiences with breathtaking excitement during battles of all scales, even with masterfully-placed periods of silence, until playing on into the end titles and inviting audiences to linger in awe of the film's world, at first a living hell but ultimately a light of strength and honour for its inhabitants, until those audiences must, with reluctance, depart from the theatre, switch off their DVD players or exit their online streaming services, in all cases thinking to themselves with joy, "What on earth was that?" As with art in all forms, interpretations will vary enormously among those who come into contact with it. And rightly so, for the art, at least as far as Gladiator is concerned, is intended for pleasure. The depths of pleasure, surely cannot be understood without total freedom from the fear of potentially dangerous repercussions for any facet of the human design. Nonetheless, Gladiator thrives on reaching out to as wide an audience as possible by awakening common motivations and questions from within the hearts of all people, like the wind tenderly flowing through every single grain of wheat in the fields that in turn gently sways from side to side while a rising white sun outlined in bumblebee yellow embraces a tiger-orange sky on all fronts. Courtesy of the music, like the Maximus the Brave, audience members may recall a time during which they felt overcome by immense grief after having ostensibly lost everything, considering with great discomfort that they at some point in their lives had nothing left to live for, only to be retold, through beautiful movie melodies, of the hope that prompted them to keep going, trusting that they remained capable of changing the lives of those around them, even in the most doubtful of situations. Gladiator is the the perfect New Year's Eve movie, for in a charge fuelled by the music, audiences are encouraged to feel proud of others and themselves for the positive differences that they can set in motion. One may tremble. The urge to weep may follow. Crucially, however, even if one decides to watch Gladiator at least once a year, the revitalising passion instilled in the heart by the life-changing victories achieved, in spite of bitterly excruciating losses, will on each occasion be no less genuinely felt than on the last viewing. The longevity of the soundtrack has allowed it to be placed on decent number of lists affirming the top film scores of all-time. An exceptional array of competitors prevented the Gladiator score from making it onto the AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores list of the top twenty-five film scores in American cinema, which was released by the American Film Institute in 2005. On the other hand, the music cheekily reached number three on Classic FM's Movie Music Hall of Fame, thanks to twenty-one thousand listeners' votes. In the end, there will certainly always be somebody whose strongest emotional defences cannot be breached by the music. Additionally, though, there will also forever remain somebody else who will feel the might of the soundtrack so completely that awards and other opinions will not mater at all.

You Against the World -  The music has had such a profound, inspiring effect on people around the world that it has been employed in NFL playoffs during commercial breaks and prior to half-time periods. Moreover, the score has also been a popular choice at funerals and become a guilty pleasure for motivation whilst at the gym, which has spawned a demand for remixes of popular tracks that are now all over YouTube. For avid music fans, the top two tracks are "The Battle" and "Now We Are Free," with the latter track being made even better when played after "Elysium" and "Honour Him." A small fortune could be wagered upon the possibility that one might heard these pieces of music already in a context that was totally devoid of any relation to the music's original purpose. Its versatility for use in a variety of personal and public functions testifies to the music's core message, present with every track: You can do it.   

          Gladiator is a film where everything works. Everything. Even the mistakes. For instance, in the midst of incredible acting in authentic costumes, gorgeous music and catchy dialogue, watch out for the jeans. To save pausing the picture every scene for over two hours, they may be identified somewhere in the first act, reminding viewers that a perfect movie cannot and does not literally have to be perfect. For a time, film lovers will feel compelled to compare the picture with the great number of historical dramas that came after it, particularly the projects for which the principle collaborators of Gladiator reunited. Soon, though, to compare Gladiator with Kingdom of Heaven, Robin Hood, or Exodus: Gods and Kings becomes as pointless and frankly unkind as comparing people to one another. No film is faultless but here, with Gladiator, is still a magical quality that will never be recreated. Here is magic that does not need to be recreated, since it is possible to produce spells of different but equally satisfying flavours. Thus, historical epics of cinema's future need not fear failure because they will be unable to replace the position held by Gladiator, for the artists behind them are capable of and more than welcome to make a movie that justly joins its rank as one of the finest historical films ever made.  

Do I Look Familiar? - Boldly written in the blog somewhere on IMDB is the belief that Joaquin Phoenix "was good in Gladiator; rubbish in everything else." Evidence suggests that such a remark is a little extreme, since his performances in more recent movies, including Walk the Line and The Master, received critical acclaim, even after Phoenix famously declared that the Oscars were "bull****." Furthermore, the legacy of his superb performance as Emperor Commodus lived on into the current decade when Jack Gleeson modelled his portrayal of Joffrey Baratheon from Game of Thrones upon the Roman tyrant. The audience may not like him but they will, without question, be entertained.