Gladiator

Gladiator is a historical film, which was released on May the forth in 2000. The movie was set in the year 180AD. The filming was held from December 1998- May 1999 and the whole creation took three years.
Gladiator is about a powerful general named Maximus, who is asked to be emperor over the emperor’s son. This causes his son Commodus to kill his father in rage. Commodus becomes Emperor and tries to assassinate Maximus and his family in revenge. Maximus escapes Commodus and tries to regain the throne, as Commodus destroys the inner workings of Rome. Maximus becomes a slave as he tries to stay clear of Commodus, and quickly becomes one of Rome's greatest gladiators with the help of Proximo, Lucilla, and Juba. The only thing fuelling him now is the desire to bring Rome back to its original glory. The main characters in this film are the following, Russell Crowe as Maximus, Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus, Connie Nielsen as Lucilla, Oliver Reed as Proximo, Richard Harris as Marcus Aurelius Derek Jacobi as Gracchus, Djimon Hounsou as Juba.
Commodus is a character based on Lucius Aurelius Commodus who lived from 161 to 192 and was the son of the reigning Caesar Marcus Aurelius. After his father died, he acceded to power over of the Roman Empire from 180 until his death - he wasn't very popular with his subjects during his reign. He is portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator (2000) under the single name, "Commodus". Gladiator must not be taken as the Truth Be Told as it’s only an approximation of true events.
In the movie, Gladiator, he was emotionally wounded and desperately wanted to be loved and respected. He was very sure he was going to become emperor of all Rome when his father ceded the throne. However when his father told him his old nemesis, Maximus, was going to be emperor instead of himself, Commodus lost control, and he was so humiliated that his father should have been witness to his uncontrolled emotions, that he smothered his father to death. Which had an added benefit - nobody would know that Marcus Aurelius hadn't given him the crown and he, Commodus, could be emperor in spite of his father's wishes. When Maximus later refused to kiss his hand, Commodus ordered him killed. So the soldiers took him out into the bushes and reported back that they killed Maximus and his family.

Politics played a major role in the Roman society. We are shown some details about the political ways of Rome through Maximus's journey from general to slave to gladiator to hero. A majority of the movie takes place in classical Rome. During this time the emperors were expanding their territory, moving towards the north and conquering France, southern Britain and starting to go into Germany. This makes the setting in the beginning scene of the movie accurate. There were actual "barbarians" who had no hope for making future advancements in their lives. Barbarians were bloodthirsty, uncivil people who wanted to destroy others. Scott portrayed this in the film quite well by making the "barbarians" look graceless and primitive. They all literally looked like they wanted to eat the opposing army. Citizens who served in the military had to serve an enlistment term of 25 years, if they could survive that long. Typically a Roman warrior was tall and muscular with a broad chest. Many of the warriors in the film had these characteristics. One of the major weapons that they used in the movie was the catapult. In Rome during this time they had two different kinds of catapults. There was the ballista "which was in the form of an oversized crossbow, worked by two vertical twisted skeins of cord and varying considerably in size."
Ballistae could also be put onto carts so to allow them to move around easier. They could launch wooden darts and round stone projectiles of all different sizes. An onager is the other type of catapult that the armies had which was primarily used to throw heavy objects over long distances. Both of these weapons were shown and used correctly in Gladiator. Ridley Scott shows massive armies of Roman citizens, which was the reality in ancient Rome because under the Roman republic, citizens always took part in the military as part of their political responsibility.