Through the dramatic costumes and elaborate settings, Spartacus comes alive on the television screen for viewers. This historical epic movie takes us along with a slave turned gladiator as he leads a rebellion against the Roman republic. For 1960, the movie used grand landscape, costumes, and architecture to make the story truly come alive.
Spartacus, a slave in the Roman republic is to be put to death. His life is spared when Biatius purchases him and brings him back to his gladiator school to be trained as a gladiator. Through some surprising turns of events, Spartacus leads the other slaves to revolt against the Roman republi. Roman troops are sent out to capture the revolting slaves, who defeat the Roman soldiers. Crassus tells the slaves that they can have their freedom if they just give him Spartacus. Spartacus is about to reveal himself when each of the other slaves shouts out the famous line “I am Spartacus!”. This leads to a mass slaughter by the Romans; However, Spartacus miraculously survives and is eventually reunited with his family.
The screenwriters and directors do an exceptional job at creating a thrilling tale that is easy to watch. It pulls the viewer in and keeps them wanting more. However, while it is a great movie in regards to entertainment, it is also a superb movie with regard to the art that is portrayed throughout. We need to keep in mind that this film was created in 1960 which is nearly 60 years ago. The technology that was available during that time period does not even compare to the technology that is available to us now for the use of creating and editing films. However, the director and everyone involved in making this film come alive used the resources that were available to them and used them to their fullest as the movie turned out great.
For starters, the landscape that is used in the movie truly gives the movie more of a “grand effect”. In more than one scene we see the large and vast dry desert. In the portrayal, the viewer can almost feel how dry and hot it is in that scene. The viewer can sympathize with Spartacus because we can almost feel the agonizing heat and despair that he is feeling.
In other scenes, we see the gladiator armor that the slaves are wearing. This is where I want to stop and take a little more time to look at some of the choices that the costume designers, directors, and others made. In some cases, they made great decisions. In one scene, we see Spartacus with armor over just one arm and he is holding a sword; this is a historically correct representation of what one type of gladiator armor may look like based off artifacts that we have from these time periods. In other scenes, however, we see much less historically accurate armor for these types of gladiators and for this time period such as the armor that Spartacus is wearing in several of the fighting scenes. If the viewer doesn’t know any better, then these costumes look like they would be historically correct, but this also can lead to misunderstandings since some of the costumes are historically correct and others are not. Additionally, if you are a viewer who does have historical knowledge of this time period, then this detail can make the film less accurate and less impactful for you since some of the details are accurate and others are not.
Finally, the architecture and landscape that is shown in the movie does give the movie more of a grand feeling for the viewer. As stated earlier, the technology that was available during the 1960’s is not to the same grade that technology is now; however, the director was still able to get the same feeling across to the viewer as he would have been able to do if he had better and higher grade technology. He achieved this by the camera pans and careful selections of the film settings. The opening scene was filmed in Death Valley, California. Filming then moved to the Universal Lot in Hollywood, where most of the film was filmed, with the battles being filmed in Spain. Additionally, the directors used many landscapes between Los Angeles and San Francisco to get the “historic” look they were searching for. That is not where the director stopped with the “using his resources” though. The sounds that are heard throughout battle is the recording of football fans attending a Notre Dame versus Michigan football game.
Spartacus, a film about pride, determination, and freedom, comes to life on the screen. It is a true testament to the directors who put their best foot forward to deliver a, historically accurate film about a slave revolt against the Roman Republic that closely models what the time period would have felt and looked like during the Roman republic. It is a grand film that touches the hearts of its viewers.
