Gcse Media: Gladiator

The music stops to show, perhaps, the silence before the battle and the camera cuts to Maximus riding his horse, the camera dollies with the horse and the music starts and intensity slowly rises as the camera cuts to the enemy showing themselves out of the dark. The camera is in amongst the soldiers preparing for battle showing the intensity of war and the discipline of the Romans.

There is a bird's eye view as the battle starts and you are shown all the firepower they had at their disposal. The camera cuts to the soldiers and the front line battle. The camera cuts to a close up with the camera dollying with cavalry soldiers and Maximus, the music is very fast and the camera follows them into war where death is shown all the way through and very graphically which shows the horror of war, as the battle comes to an end the music slows and the scene moves into slow motion. The sound effects stop completely but for the music, which is very calm and mournful showing reflection on the battle. In this scene the shots go from distant to close up which show the violence, anger and pure adrenaline of war. At the end of the battle ash and snow start to fall, which represents that the Romans won the battle, but at the cost of a lot of death, the music is very melancholy representing sorrow.

The Director wishes to show the audience how organized and invincible the Romans are (on the battle field at least), how they are lacking in motivation, and in contrast how the barbarians are fighting for a lost cause and yet they will not give up. He shows this by always making the Romans look organized and goes in amongst the barracks and with Maximus in the ambush with the camera where as the camera watches the barbarians get attacked and slaughtered.

'Death smiles at us all' is the title of the ending scene and is of possibly the most significance of the whole film. It is the scene where he two main characters die and has religious over tones from the start. It starts with the two main characters, Maximus and Comadus, rising on a platform with roses dropping from above and a gospel choir singing as if they are rising up to heaven; the camera is close up until they go out of view and then pans out to see a wooden structure that resembles a cross. This may symbolize that someone is going to die. As they rise to the top platform the viewer is shown the whole of the floor of the coliseum covered in rose petals; this shows that this is a very emotional occasion. The camera then cuts to a close up of each person of significance to give the effect of a showdown.

During the period of most of the fight there is no music, only other sound effects such as swords clashing; this is because there is no music that could state every emotion that the characters would be feeling and so there is no need because the event almost speaks for its self as it is of such emotional significance because it would affect so many people. As the battle starts the camera dollies with them but cuts back and forth from the ground level view and in the stands, this is to give variety to the fight scene and keep it seeming fast paced and keep the audience involved in the fight. All through this scene some bits are in slow motion, others blurred and some normal speed; this is because whenever any of those happened it was always seen from Maximus' view and so Maximus is beginning to die and would be seeing things at different speeds. The fight is fast paced and the camera angles vary lots of times in a very short space of time to make it look more exciting than it actually was. The only sound used throughout the fight scene is that of clashing blades. The camera cuts to Maximus' house once more to show that he is dying and is almost dead. As Comadus dies there is no music and very gory sound effects to show the enormity of the event. The camera then cuts to silence with the camera spinning round the coliseum to give the effect of everyone watching and reflecting on the emperor's death; the music starts very slowly and builds up. The camera cuts to Maximus' house again to show he is really near the end and almost with his family in the afterlife, the solo vocalist returns and then the camera cuts between Maximus and the dead Emperors sister several times before a close up on his face as he dies; the camera then follows him as he glides along the ground, with rose petals clearly visible on the floor behind him symbolizing that he is back with his wife and child and happy again. The camera cuts to Maximus walking in the field back to his house as in the beginning but this time in colour and then cuts back to him lying on the floor in the middle of the coliseum. The camera moves to inside the ring of people and has a close up on the emperors daughters big speech about how Rome is not worth one good mans life with a close up view on her but looking up at her to give the effect of her being big and taking over. It then moves to a bird's eye view as Maximus is carried off.

Next the camera shows a close up of Chimsy burying Maximus' figures of his family in sand stained in blood to symbolize him being with his family as he died in the same place in the sand and they are buried in his blood. The camera then rises to see the sun going down on the great city of Rome. In this scene I think that the director (Ridley Scott) is trying to show how weak such a powerful city like Rome can be and that even though it looks so magnificent, it only takes one man to tear it apart.

Tom Williams