Search - Colosseum - A Gladiator's Story/Pompeii - The Last Day on DVD

When combat was entertainment

Alejandra Vernon | Long Beach, California | 03/27/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A realistic docu-drama, this is a telling of the building of Rome's Colosseum which started under the rule of Emperor Vespasian and was completed by his son and heir Titus in 80 AD. It also shows the training of the gladiators, many who were slaves, but a few who would trade their liberty for a period of time for money, and sometimes fame.
The decadence and brutality of the Roman games, as well the brave and desperate men who were the entertainment, make for a riveting story;
The central figure is a historical gladiator by the name of Verus, who was a slave working in a quarry when chosen for the arena. Robert Shannon is good in the part, exhibiting much physical prowess, grace and style. Filmed in Tunisia, it boasts the latest technological wizardry to duplicate the Colosseum and the audience, using matte paintings and crowd replication among other techniques.
Produced and directed by Tilman Remme, the dialog is in Latin, and the narration by Liev Schreiber, whose modulated voice is always a pleasure to listen to.
Having seen the empty shell of what is left of this extraordinary structure as it stands today, I found this recreation fascinating and informative, with enough drama and action to make it interesting for repeated viewings."

EXCELLENT MOVIE/documentary

E. Peplow | Park Ridge, Illinois | 02/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First of all, let me express my feelings on this movie-WOW! This DVD has a narrator that pops in and out leading the viewer through the lives of some of Pompeii's citizens. He then lets you basically enter into their lives and you somewhat feel that you are watching the "mountain" (they did not know it was a volcano in 79 AD) explode. I was really moved just seeing how people dealt with this disaster. The movie also shows the artifacts of today linking them with the characters in the story. They also show the casts of the people as they lived out their last minutes on Earth. Let me say that this is one of the best movies out there. You will not be disapointed. Even to the guys that like action flicks, I think you will like this one since it is a TRUE story. For the gals out there, you will also love it as I did since it is a dramatization of something TRUE. I usually don't buy just any movie, but I am definately glad that this is one I spent money on. ENJOY!"

Excellent DVD combo...

A. Verlay | Montréal, Canada | 02/19/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"...but not the one shown on the Discovery Channel though.

All the reviews you are going to read below are excellent, this DVD is a very good combo (the gladiator documentary is also of very good quality) extras are numerous and interesting.

HOWEVER the version played on TV was 1 hour 40 minutes long instead of the English version of 50 minutes we have on this DVD. The editing is different, the music is different, the narrator is different (american accent). There is a 50 minutes additional part with all the actual site of Pompeii and it's dangers to the new cities that were built since the eruption which is also very informative.

Both versions, English and American are very good, I guess you just have to make your own opinion when you'll see a reprise of the show on TV (or you can still go on the discovery web site to find the American version DVD which does not include the Gladiator combo...)

It's time Amazon.com start providing the DVDs from this source as well, because if you are interested in Documentaries you don't have access to all choices available just by visiting their website right now..."

Thorough, accurate and compelling; well documented without b

Eric Kondratieff | Philadelphia | 03/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Both of these programs are very well done. I have shown both of them to my university students (survey course on Ancient Cities / Ancient Civ., and Roman History), and they not only learned from them, but found them compelling as well.

In particular, my students appreciated the Pompeii program because it brought home to them the magnitude of human suffering in this disaster, as well as the helplessness and ineffectiveness of well-intentioned government officials attempting to intervene (e.g., Pliny the Elder, who sailed into the conflagration with a Roman fleet to rescue survivors, only to be overcome and suffocated by Vesuvius' poisonous fumes). It was especially poignant in view of the Katrina disaster that had overwhelmed New Orleans mere weeks before they saw this program. Especially effective is how the program follows actors portraying specific, historically-documented individuals and families of Pompeii (all drawn from various walks of life, e.g., merchants, politicians, gladiators, and slaves; men, women and children) through the different phases of Vesuvius' eruption. The final images, showing the actors in various positions of death recreated from and juxtaposed with images of the skeletons or body casts of the actual individuals just as they were found, are particularly moving. They also serve as a powerful reminder of one's own mortality... so this show is perhaps not for anyone in the throes of a midlife crisis!

The Gladiator program also does well in fleshing out the lives of Rome's professional blood-sport combatants beyond the arena. One learns how and by whom they were trained and cared for and what their daily lives could be like. It also explains how many gladiators formed guilds to ensure that none of their colleagues killed in the arena should lack proper burial, or that their widows and/or orphans should lack care. A parallel storyline involves the construction of the Flavian Amphitheater, or Colosseum, under the Emperor Vespasian (69-79 AD) and his son and successor, the Emperor Titus (79-81 AD). The climax of the program is the fight immortalized by the poet Martial, in which two very popular gladiators fought to a draw before the Emperor Titus in the last days of the 100-day celebration held for the dedication of the Colosseum in Rome (in 80 AD, before the Colosseum was completed). For its depth, drama, and sensitive approach (it is NOT overly gorey, so can be shown to grade-schoolers as well), I give it top marks.

It is also nice that both programs deal with virtually contemporaneous events (they occurred within a year of each other), thus serving as a snapshot in time of Rome and Roman-Italian society in 79-80 AD.

Finally, production values are particularly high for an historical documentary, thanks in large part to CGI techniques employed throughout to recreate landscapes, cityscapes and volcanic explosions. Costumes are also largely accurate, as are the sets and set decorations (unlike "I Claudius" and Marlon Brando's "Julius Caesar" both of which committed the anachronistic faux pas of having on set busts of emperors who were not even born yet... relatively speaking, of course)."