Frenchcat and I saw 'Gladiator' saturday nite and I am ashamed to admit how much I was affected by it. Frenchcat absolutely hated it, he said it was a wanna-be 'Spartacus' or 'Ben-hur.' He was bored to death and thought it was sort of pathetic--a video game. I haven't seen either of those movies, but I was sort of knocked out by it, especially by the opening battle scene: "A people should know when they're conquered." It was very stressful to watch it; the entire movie, in fact, groaned with death. I also let my imagintion go ape and internalized the whole thing, envisioning myself as the mother of a gladiator. I think it must have been agonizing being a mother back then. I don't know if I could handle it.
Sometimes the dialogue was a little stilted, but the acting was tremendous and compensated for some weak lines. I didn't even mind the Titan-icky ending.
