 Rome,
Season One (2005)
Our rating: 1 out of 5
Rated: TVMA
reviewed by: Charity Bishop
Given my fascination with Julius Caesar, it was inevitable I should watch
Rome, but fortunately I had friends to warn me about the level of content
first. It's one of the most powerful historical dramas I have seen, but also the
most sexually revolting.
The 13th
Battalion of the Roman Guard has been stationed in Gaul to put an end to
an uprising. Lead by the charismatic and battle-wise Julius Caesar
(Ciarán Hinds), it has managed to triumph over its enemies and bring
about a temporary peace. But the Roman Standard has been stolen and two
men are chosen to find and restore it to the camp, in order to lift
morale among their troops. The two men are Lucius Vorenus (Kevin
McKidd), a centurion longing for his wife and family at home, and Titus
Pullo (Ray Stevenson), a free spirit only concerned with surviving
battle, bedding beautiful maidens, and drinking himself to an oblivion
in taverns. There is an immediate kinship between them that makes them a
formidable duo, and they return triumphant not only with the stolen
standard but the news that it was not taken by members of the enemy
guard but an associate of Caesar's former friend and supporter in Rome,
Pompey.
Resentful of the incredible popularity Caesar has obtained abroad,
Pompey (Kenneth Cranham) slowly becomes convinced that his friend is
dangerous. Rome is in the midst of uncertainty as Caesar intends to return
triumphant and confront his enemies, placing his friends and family into
dangerous positions. His scheming niece Atia (Polly Walker) intends to
retain power no matter what the cost, even if it means offering her daughter
Octavia (Kerry Condon) to Pompaii as a new bride. Little does she realize
that her son, the cunning Octavian (Max Pirkis), is far more dangerous.
There are many more characters than mentioned here -- from Brutus and Mark
Anthony, to Lucius' wife and daughters, as well as a slave girl Pullo
rescues, Julius Caesar's mistress and her household, and of course various
members of the Roman and Egyptian courts (Cleopatra, Cicero, etc).
It is an
incredibly detailed and complicated twelve episode series that has a huge
scope and even bigger following. It's one of the most accurate films I have
seen depicting the depravity and horrors of the time, and is not difficult
to follow and never dull. The acting is quite good but the plot suffers from
extremely unlikable characters. There is absolutely no one to root for,
since everyone is so flawed that I could not like any of them. For example,
just as I was starting to come around to Pullo's virtues, in a jealous rage
over a woman, he bashed a man's head open against a column and killed him. I
liked Caesar's mistress... before she set out to seduce a young woman and
manipulate her into destroying her family from within. The only character I
was rather fond of was Caesar, but we all know what happens to him in the
end!
Some part of my emotional distance comes from the fact that I had to
avert my eyes or fast-forward so often. I have had the displeasure of seeing
some truly perverse content in films before, but none of it is as graphic or
disturbing as that to be found in Rome.
Where does one even begin? With fully naked men and women,
often from the front? Crude sexualized sketches on the walls of Rome? Sex
scenes that leave nothing to the imagination? How about a graphically
depicted lesbian subplot, including long lip locks and tumbles in bed? Or
maybe the incest? Out of the twelve episodes, every one had at least one or
two scenes of a graphic nature, and some of them more.
Once you get past the revolting nudity and related smut,
then there's the language. Apparently, the f-word was used frequently in
ancient Rome, because it peppers the dialogue frequently, along with
innuendo and sexual conversations.
The first half of the season is light on gruesome violence
but all of that changes in the last four episodes, when Pullo is forced to
fight for his life in the arena. His slaughter of gladiators is extremely
gruesome -- heads and limbs go flying off, and blood pours onto the ground.
Throughout, men are impaled. Knives stab people through the throat. Caesar's
death is brutal and difficult to watch; blood soaks his toga and those of
his attackers as he falls to the ground and lays there, twitching, until
Brutus finishes him off. Modern audiences will also be startled and even
offended by the fact that women are often backhanded for having a difference
of opinion. Caesar strikes his mistress repeatedly until she falls to the
floor, and Mark Anthony viciously slaps Atia across the face.
I know a great many people who think Rome is a masterpiece, and
in some respects it is. The way the writers have woven lower class
individuals into the story along with such tremendous historical figures as
Cleopatra, Mark Anthony, and Caesar is nothing less than remarkable.
Interestingly enough, the characters of Pullo and Lucius are based on real
life Roman soldiers; nothing is known about them except that they were as
"close as brothers, and would risk their lives for one another." The costume
design is beautiful, the scope is tremendous, and the acting is excellent.
But I cannot recommend it, unless you can find the series in an edited
format. The content is beyond graphic and borderline pornography. Its themes
are unpleasant and the violence is gut-wrenching. I was so distracted by it
that I could not truly become emotionally involved, and this meant none of
the characters left a lingering impression. I didn't even cry when Caesar
met his end, and that has never happened before. Some might argue that in
the authenticity of showing the period as it was, Rome does not go too far
in its graphic content, but I differ. There are ways to insinuate things or
show the debauchery of the period without forcing the audience to witness
things they would never stand around and watch in real life. If I don't want
to see it on my street, it doesn't belong in my living room.
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