The Culmination of Sets and Props in Ancient Movies

Since the very beginning of the genre of movies about ancient Greece and Rome, movie directors have sought to provide sets and props that provide viewers with a realistic experience.   In addition to a good plot, these directors want their viewers to be transported back to the world that was ancient Rome or Greece.  Good movie making means providing the viewer with an escape from their everyday life.   Over time, with each movie, during the decades from Ben Hur, to Quo Vadis, to Spartacus, viewers have seen an explosion of improvements to the sets and props used in this genre. Gladiator is the culmination of those efforts.   Director Ridley Scott provides a reasonably historically accurate portrayal of gladiator contests, showing tigers unleashed from beneath the Colosseum and gladiators inflicting brutal wounds on each other.  Not all is gruesome, however, as the viewer also sees an impressive and innovate reconstruction of the Roman Imperial Palace.   The camera wanders through the vast palace, showing room and after room, constructed of marble.  Similarly the street scenes outside show how the ordinary Roman might have seen Rome.  Finally, it is the opening scenes of Gladiator which truly impress: the preparations for battle in the sprawling encampment; the brutal battle against the Germanic barbarians which includes a forest inferno; and the aftermath of the battle in which the weary Maximus walks among his soldiers who are exhausted, dirty and sometimes wounded.   Overall, Gladiator is an extraordinary spectacle which uses props and sets to create another world into which the viewer can escape.