Gladiator, though not the most intellectually stimulating film of this decade, was deeper and more complex than one might gather from it at first glance. Its theme was not a simple "good-guy versus bad-guy" one as one might gather from the title. In fact, Gladiator in essence had very little to do with gladiators. Its real purpose, its real underlying flavor, was to depict a man's struggle against decadence in his society and to restore …showed first 75 words of 1215 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1215 total…who in turn commands loyalty from those whose lives he touches. It also depicts his struggle against a society that, at one time a model society in many ways, had become warped and twisted. This struggle is not idealistic but it is entirely personal, and derives its drive from his affections and loyalties. Work Cited "Commodus." http://myron.sjsu.edu/romeweb/EMPCONT/e083.htm "Gladiators." http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~snlrc/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/gladiators.html