Binge On This - Rome: A Realistic Sandal Series
I have seen a good number of so called "sandal movies". Okay, I'm not sure if this term is universally used, but what I mean by it are depictions of stories from antiquity, particularly Greek / Roman history. Just as so many of us, in my school days I have been fed an overload of info about the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, especially the times of the former transitioning into the latter. This experience was not made much better by the numerous films created about this epoch, as most of which carry the fake and distant feel of schoolbook translations with them.
For these reasons I was at first rather doubtful about the series Rome, aired between 2005 and 2007 on HBO, BBC, and the Italian network RAI 2. After the first two episodes, however, I was totally convinced, as I was thoroughly enjoying this new approach to a seemingly overexploited subject matter.
Historical Names and Fictional Charaters
As expected, the show starts off with the historically most important time period the Roman Republic, its final years. Julius Caesar returns from his Gallic Wars, crosses the Rubicon, fights a civil war, becomes a dictator, until he's assassinated at the Ides of March. All that is handled in the plot-line of the show, but then there is so much more. We get to know interesting characters involved in the historical happenings through relationships and intrigues, just as you would expect it to have happened in real life.
Apart from such recognizable names as Caesar, Cicero, Marc Anthony, and Cleopatra, the cast is filled with heavily fictionalized and partially historical characters, such as Atia of the Julii, a powerful Roman matron based on two distinct historical personages, of whom fairly little is known. The most important characters, however, are two completely fictional Roman soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo. It is through their eyes we are introduced to the historical context, and get to experience the reality of history.
The Dirty Underbelly of Rome
Probably the most important reason why I really liked this series was the way it illustrated the normality of ancient Rome. Before Christian prudery created a whole new normal, it was simple common sense that two retired legionaries would open a brothel in order to become upstanding members of society. And given a lack of a police force, it would require a patron with good liquidity, and sufficiently armed forces, to protect an establishment. Practical examples of what we learned of patron and client relationships in theory, and how it directly evolved into mafia practices.
Only Two Seasons, But Certainly Worth It
The only bad thing I can think about this show, is that it was cancelled after the first two seasons. So disappointing! And it seemed to be set up so ideally: the first season was about Caesar, the second one about Augustus, so it just offered itself to look at the lives and times of Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, etc. Unfortunately, this never happened. Citing high production costs, due to a prohibitively large cast and a maticulously well detailed set that burned down in an accident, the last three seasons were scrapped. That's fine, though, this kinda thing seems to befall many great shows.
As for the quality of it, I am by no means the only one who liked it. It was nominated for an incredible number of awards, many of which it even won. The hope of the multitudes of fans, disappointed by the cancellation of this show, was kept alive of possibly seeing a movie version of this particular series, but it seems like none if this happened. Since it's been almost a decade since then, chances are, it never will. So oh well, you could say. Still, the two seasons that have been released are fantastic, and certainly worth watching. Take a look at the trailer here:
Take a Look at the Previous Posts in my Binge On This Series:
Carnivàle: A Throw-back to the Thirties
Weeds: The Hillarious Alternative to Breaking Bad
Mr. Robot: Hackers, Freedom, and Mental Issues
Das Boot: A Real German WWII Series
Black Sails: Pirate Lore Galore
Twelve Monkeys: Time Travel and Pandemic
The DocsMX 2020 Film Festival
I don't know the actor's name, but in the second photo here it looks like he is playing Julius Caesar. That is enough to recommend the show to me: he was born to play that role!
I just looked it up: the actor's name is Ciarán Hinds. Normally I really don't care about actors, and in fact, I have a hard time recognizing their faces in different roles. Which is why I don't really talk about them. I'm glad to see you liked him as Caesar.
Another great series that I consider to be among the best. I'm going to make a post with all my Top series. Unfortunately the project could not be done as they had planned. The original idea was to make 5 seasons. But according to what I read some time ago, the production costs were huge and the audiences were not very high. But the creators, at least they gave us an ending.
I loved this series, for the way it portrayed that time in Rome, the violence, the sex.
I fell in love with Atia, the character played by Polly Walker. The woman behind the power.
I had fun with the scene where Pullo turns out to be the father of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra's son. An invention of the scriptwriters. hahaha.
I was hurt by the suicide of Niobe, Lucius' wife. I liked Augustus as a teenager, I didn't like the actor who played him as an adult.
I have this one on DVD.
I recommend you to watch the series Spartacus, another great production, a real maelstrom of violence and sex. After the first season, they made a prequel, because the actor who played Spartacus got cancer and then died, then another actor took over the role of Spartacus and the following seasons were great with a worthy ending.
Greetings and success !
Wow, it looks like you really liked this series! Thanks for mentioning some of these cool plot twists. Yes Caesar's and Cleopata's son and the mystery surrounding it, was worked well into the story. Thanks for recommending Spartacus. I've heard good things about it, so I should check it out.
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BEER.I saw both seasons and thoroughly enjoyed it. With the production being so real, I can understand the high costs, but that was what helped make the show so enjoyable to watch.
Also very bummed out about it being canceled.
The two seasons is a bummer in case you felt like binge watching. I like the term "sandal movies," very appropriate. I haven't found a show to grab my attention since The Office or Parks and Recreation, so I'm willing to give anything a try. There is so much saturation and places to watch things that it's easy for a good show to have a short life.
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Oh, it made good binge watching... for like a week or two, hehehe. And indeed, it seems like there are way too many shows that it's reasonably impossible to watch all (even just all good ones). I once tried Parks and Recreation, but it wasn't for me. I realized it must have been full of jokes, it just failed to make me laugh. Oh well, to each their own humor.