The Last Legion is an intriguing fantasy film based on a novel, which holds the same name, by Valerio Massimo. The movie is based on events from the Fifth Century that tie the last Roman Emperor and the fall of Rome, into the legends of the Ninth Legion and King Arthur. The movie is somewhat based off of historical facts and makes a slightly plausible story line; however, the further someone would look into history, the more they would find the movie to be Hollywood fantasy. In the first paragraph, descriptions of the cinemas’ account of Romulus Augustus becoming Emperor of Rome, the fall of Rome to the Goths, and then the exile of Romulus compared to the historical account will be found. Next, The Roman’s journey to Britain and their encounter …show more content…
with the lost Ninth Legion and how the movie tied Romulus into the King Arthur and Merlin legend. The movie starts with Ambrosinus, a Druid that had traveled through much of the known world in search of Caesar's sword, he was Romulus Augustus’ tutor. Later, the movie shows the ruler of Rome, Orestes, who is Romulus’ father. Although he rules Rome, he is not the Emperor himself. On the day before the coronation of Romulus in 640 AD, Odoacer the Commander of the barbarian Goths allied with the Romans, demanded a third of Italy’s estates from Orestes. The estates were promised to Odoacer for his help with the overthrow of the old Emperor of the Eastern Empire, but was repudiated. The same day, Romulus meets the general of the Nova Invicta Legion Aurelianus Caius Antonius, known as Aurelius. The Legion’s sole purpose was to protect the emperor. The night after Romulus is crowned emperor, Rome is attacked by the Goths. Most of Aurelius's men are killed and Aurelius is stunned and left for dead. Orestes, Romulus’ father, and his wife are killed by Odoacer's lieutenant, Wulfila, who captures Romulus. The following day Odoacer, who is now the ruler of the Western Empire, plans to have Romulus killed; however, Ambrosinus convinces Odoacer to spare the boy, and exiled him to a summer villa on the island of Capri which was built by the emperor Tiberius. The historical account of Romulus Augustus is that he was “son of Orestes, who once had been an assistant to Attila the Hun. After Attila's death, Orestes joined the service of the western empire and quickly achieved senior position. In addition, in AD 474 emperor Julius Nepos made Orestes 'Master of Soldiers' and raised him to the rank of Patrician.” (Romulus Augutus. Par 1) In this elevated position Orestes enjoyed far greater support by the troops than the emperor himself. By now, almost the entire garrison in Italy consisted of German mercenaries although they felt very little allegiance to the empire at all. Orestes himself was half German, half Roman. Seeing his chance to launch a rebellion marched his troops on Ravenna, the seat of the empire - not Rome as the movie indicated. The western emperor, Julius Nepos, fled in August AD 475, leaving Italy to Orestes. Even though Orestes now controlled the empire, he did not take the throne for himself. With his Roman wife he had a son named Romulus Augustus. In hopes that his son would be more accepted, Orestes made Romulus emperor on 31 October AD 475 and not AD 640 as the movie had specified. The eastern empire refused to recognize him and continued to support Julius Nepos who remained in exile in Dalmatia. Only ten months after Romulus' assent to the throne, a serious mutiny from the troops arose. The reason for the dissention was that in other parts of the western empire, landowners had been obliged to hand over possession of up to two thirds of their estates to allied Germans within the empire. But this policy had never been applied to Italy. Orestes had made promises of such land grants to the German soldiery if they would help him overthrow Julius Nepos. After Nepos had been overthrown, he chose to forget such concessions. But the German troops were not willing to let the issue be forgotten and demanded their portion of the land. The man who led their protest was one of Orestes' own senior officers, Flavius Odoacer (Odovacar), who was portrayed as a barbarian in the movie. In all historical fact, Odoacer was a barbarian because he was from the Germanic tribes at this time in history. “Armed with a religion from the Mid-East, Roman law and governmental organization, Greek art and philosophy, the descendants of these barbarians would spread their culture all over the globe… however there is a deep strain of violence which has permeated Western Civilization and it has existed from the birth of the West.” (Guisepi par. 1) Orestes was faced with such a wide scale mutiny that he withdrew behind a well-fortified city of Ticinum (Pavia). Ticinum, besieged and sacked, was where Orestes was captured and taken to Placentia (Piacenza) where he was executed. According to Britannica, “Odoacer’s forces captured and executed Orestes on August 28, 476 AD. Romulus, however, was spared because of his youth; Odoacer gave him a pension and sent him to live with his relatives in Campania, a region of southern Italy.” (“Romulus Augutus” par. 2) Whereas the movie had him sent to the island of Capri as a prisoner. The exact date of his death is unknown, although some accounts indicate that he may still have been alive in 507-11 AD. By the same token, The Last Legion tied the lost Ninth Legion and the Legend of King Arthur together.
Romulus is sent to the island of Capri where he discovers a hidden chamber within the villa. After going in, he comes across a statue of Caesar holding the fabled sword; which was forged by a Chalybian blacksmith after his military campaigns in Britain. The statue had writing near its feet proclaiming the sword was made only for who is destined to rule, which is then interpreted as a prophecy by various characters, and Romulus keeps the weapon. They are rescued from Capri by the loyal Aurelius and three surviving legionaries. Aurelius and the legionaries are also accompanied by a female agent of the Eastern Roman Empire, a Keralite warrior named Mira. They take Romulus to a sea port where the Eastern Empire's emissary and the Senator, Nestor, have promised safe passage to Constantinople. However, they learn the Senator and the Eastern Empire have betrayed them and have sided with Odoacer. They escape and make it over the Alps, and eventually reach Britain. While in Britain they discover the remainder of the Ninth Legion, who have disbanded and settled as farmers because of the lack of support from Rome. The Goths follow Romulus and enlist the help of a local Warlord called Vortgyn, who decided to either capture or kill Romulus as a gesture to Odoacer. Aurelius decides to lead an army made up of some of the Ninth that were willing to fight at Hadrian's Wall, to face Vortgyn's armies in one final battle. The battle appears hopeless until the rest of the Ninth Legion wearing their old Roman uniforms and arms appear and turn the tide of battle. Romulus kills Wulfila with Caesar's sword, avenging his parent’s death. Repulsed by the deaths in the battle, Romulus heaves away his sword which remarkably pierces a large rock and it becomes lodged there. Many years later Ambrosinus, who is known by his Druid name Merlin, takes a walk with a young boy to the battlefield to
describe the now legendary events. The boy is named Arthur, whose dad is Romulus, listens to the story. The closing scene shows the sword of Julius Caesar is now embedded in the stone and moss growing on the blade covering up the original inscription leaving only the Latin letters Excalibur. The legend of the ninth legion and what happened to them is that “Emergency reinforcements of over 3,000 men were rushed to the island on "the British Expedition", early in Hadrian's reign. The emperor himself visited the island in AD 122, in order to "correct many faults", bringing with him a new legion, the Sixth.” (“Ninth Legion Mystery” par. 14) Many speculated the troops were replacing the Ninth, which would mean that the Ninth disappeared around AD 122, this would have made them over 500 years old in 640 AD. Also, the Emperor Romulus Augustus was sent to Misenum in Campania and his exact date of death was unknown, although it was placed around 507-11 AD. As far as the Sword of Caesar, there are not any historical facts tying the sword to any part of the movie or the King Arthur Legend. The Last Legion provided an interesting story line of what could have transpired at the end of the Western Empire of Rome and the fate of Romulus Augustus, the last Emperor. The movie also added an interesting interpretation of what could have been behind the disappearances of the Ninth Legion of Rome. The movie further adds an interesting twist to how the Legend of King Arthur came into existence. Furthermore, the story of Ambrosinus who turned out to be Merlin, King Arthur’s Mentor, adds another aspect to the movie. The first part of the movie was loosely based on actual historical facts, but the further the movie unfolded the more it turned into Hollywood Fantasy. For the most part the movie, The Last Legion was not anywhere near a factual account of the fall of the Western Empire, the fate of the last Emperor, and the disappearance of the Ninth Legion, or the Legend of King Arthur. The movie is somewhat stimulating and enjoyable to watch plus makes people think of might have been a reality, but the more one looks into any historical facts or the historical time line, the more inaccuracy can be found and the fictional aspect are prevalent.
It is 1957 and the Algerian war is at its prime as the FLN fight against an elite troop of ruthless French paratroopers. The Battle of Algiers is a portion of the Algerian war which was fought in order for Algeria to gain independence from France. The film starts off with the torturing of an old man to gain information on where the last of the freedom fighters, Ali Pointe is hiding. A large segment of the film is shot in flashbacks focusing on the past of Ali Pointe. Pointe was a ruffian with theft and drugs on his record; he joined the militants to assist in getting rid of the problems in Algeria associated with the French. With the flashbacks the film tells the struggles of the insurgents and the persistence of the French to end the war. It shows the transformation of the insurgency into a full out revolution. When the flashbacks ends and it is now present time Ali Pointe, along with the rest of the FLN leaders captured are beheaded. Through this, the FLN reciprocate and the insurgency becomes a full on national revolution with growth in numbers and support. The film ends with Algeria gaining the independence it strived for in 1962. The film is important in understanding asymmetric conflicts because despite being the weaker side, Algeria had proved itself to be much stronger than the French and had its newfound independence to show for it.
Another major inaccuracy the movie got by with was the time frame of the missing Ninth Legion. The movie depicts their disappearance around A.D 140. However, the last piece of evidence of the Ninth Legion was earlier in the A.D one hundreds. The last known location of the Ninth Legion was in York dated in A.D 108. That is thirty-two year difference in the time period that the movie depicted. Time is a very important factor when it comes to history because a lot of social and political changes occur throughout small gaps of
A Rebel Without A Cause is a movie directed at the young adults of the 1950s. Teenager, a new term for young adults, is brought about within this film as a way to describe the character of the young adults. The movie was directed towards the teenagers because of their growing population and use of money for fashion and entertainment. However, within this movie, some of the most important understandings about family life during the decade are manifested. The issues of teenagers erupt because of family and school life, and as a result, the teens took drastic actions. The use of tobacco cigarettes and dangerous car races are two of the evident examples within the film.
A League of Their Own (Marshall, 1992) explicitly characterizes an American era when a woman’s place was in the home. Even our modern perspective implicitly follows suit. Although women have gained rights and freedoms since the 1930’s, sexism remains prevalent in America. This film offers an illustration when men went to war and big business men utilized women as temporary replacements in factories, sports, and so on. Here, course concepts, such as gender socialization, gender expressions, role stereotypes, emotion expressions, and language, correspond to the film’s characters and themes.
While Romulus is credited for exemplifying many of Rome;’s fundamental values, his reign over Rome is one that is infamous for its abundant bloodshed, violence against Rome’s neighbouring cities and demonstrations of his accumulated power. In comparison to Romulus’ rule, King Numa Pompilius reign is filled with undisturbed peace and coexistence in Rome and its neighbouring communities. Romulus often resorts to utilizing methods like violence or deceit to achieve his aspirations for the glory of Rome. One of the very first of Romulus’ acts of violence “to obtain sole power” (Livy 37) is to brutally murder his own twin brother, Remus in an angry fit of rage. The murder of Remus is a reflection of Romulus’ violent, ruthless nature and demonstrates the drastic measures he will go to achieve ultimate power. “To increase the dignity and impressiveness of his [ki...
“Apocalypse Now” is a legendary war film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film’s main theme is devastation, violence, and horror. In this film Coppola thoroughly scrutinized the main characters ideas, behavior, and emotions to depict the darkness and the horror of war. His goal was to make the audience part of the horror. He wanted the audience to have a tremendous impact on this film and he succeeded with the perfect use of sound and editing in the ending sequence of his film. I will demonstrate how Coppola exploits a wide array of sound and editing to create suspense, intensity, and anxiety in the sequence to affect the audience’s emotions, using diegetic ambient sound effects, non-diegetic music, voice over and four editing types.
The movie I decided to analyze for this course was American History X (1998), which stars Edward Norton. Though this movie isn’t widely known, it is one of the more interesting movies I have seen. It’s probably one of the best films that depict the Neo Nazi plague on American culture. The film takes place from the mid to late 1990’s during the Internet boom, and touches on subjects from affirmative action to Rodney King. One of the highlights of this movie that really relates to one of the key aspects of this course is the deterrence of capital punishment. Edward Norton’s portrayal as the grief stricken older brother who turns to racist ideologies and violence to cope with his fathers death, completely disregards the consequences of his actions as he brutally murders someone in front of his family for trying to steal his car. The unstable mentality that he developed after his father’s death really goes hand-to-hand specifically with Isaac Ehrlich’s study of capital punishment and deterrence. Although this movie is entirely fictional, a lot of the central themes (racism, crime punishment, gang pervasiveness, and one’s own vulnerability) are accurate representations of the very problems that essentially afflict us as a society.
Hungry for Change is a documentary that exposes the truth about the food industry, eating habits in America and what we need to do to change it. The film explains why what we are eating is not real food, only food-like, and why we are so addicted to processed food. The food industry is adding chemicals to food which not only destroy our bodies but are designed to keep us craving more. Producers use food labels like fat-free or sugar-free to mislead us to think that their product is healthier but they are just trying to disguise what is really added. Artificial sweeteners and MSG are chemicals added to food to make it more addicting, like the chemicals in drugs or cigarettes. People do not realize what they are putting into their bodies; documentary explains in depth what these chemicals are doing to our bodies and how to change our habits.
Full Metal Jacket is written and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The film was released in 1987 and it is starring Matthew Modine (Joker), Vincent D’Onofrio (Pyle), Adam Baldwin (Animal), and R. Lee Ermey ( Guy.Segr. Hartman).
Gavin Hood the director of ender's game south African filmmaker he has directed the movies wolverine and Ender's game. The author of Ender’s game is Orson Scott Card 1989 science fiction novel
The movie I chose to analyze for historical accuracy was War Horse. This movie was set in the First World War, starting in Britain but the story also explored France and Germany during this time period as well. Three scenes will be analyzed: the trench warfare scene between the British and the Germans, the scene where the British soldiers were gassed, and the scene where the British were getting patched up and nursed. War Horse does well to stick to the historical accuracy of what happened during the First World War due to the fact that the three scenes that I have chosen to analyze are not embellished and are close to what really happened.
In the modern day era, we find in society a ubiquitous usage of technology that seems to be never ending and forever growing. Included with this notion, the broad subject of surveillance is of course included. Contemporary surveillance, or more specifically technological surveillance, has been described as ambiguous; meaning that it is often misunderstood or open to different interpretations. The representation of surveillance within popular culture has played an impacting role on how we as a society perceive it and this raises certain questions that may reflect back on to society. The 1998 film Enemy Of The State directed by Tony Scott, Starring Will Smith, Gene Hackman and Jon Voight is considered to be a ‘spy-thriller’ blockbuster. Its central themes explore a range of surveillance techniques and equipment and also provides some insights, no matter how realistic or unrealistic they may be, into the real life security organisation; The National Security Agency (NSA). Using this film as an example and analysing how these themes are represented will hopefully allow us to key these ideas back to modern surveillance theories and practices.
After watching the movie, Gods and Generals, I have have mixed emotions. In the movie, the acting was pretty horrible, especially the death scenes. During the battle, if you really watched the men when they got shot, most of them just got on their knees and ducked out of frame. It was obvious that all of the minor role actors had no real acting background. I feel as if they could have done a better job with casting the actors. The actor that played General Hood looked way to old. Realistically, General Hood supposed to be around 30 years old, he was one of the more younger generals. But, the actor that played him looked very old and had a long gray beard. In contrast, I feel as if
While Brutus sees life as something to be solved with logic and guided by morality, Mark Antony views life as something that he can twist and mold into whatever he needs it to be at any given moment. Mark Antony uses the audience of the funeral speech as tools to wrench the Roman Republic from the hands of Brutus and place the crown on his own head. He inspires rage and distrust in the plebeians, and directly spurs on the Battle of Philippi. Brutus is roped into this situation despite his unselfish motives, and has to defend himself and his fellows against the armies of Mark Antony and the young Octavius. From beginning to end, the characters of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar are true to their defining qualities and do not depart from the molds they have cast of
Nelson Mandela was one of the greatest leaders of our time. In the movie Invictus, the devotion and love he had for the South African people is exemplified. The movie was named after a Victorian poem that brought President Mandela strength while in prison. The meaning of Invictus is “Undefeated”, a perfect fit for this movie. The opening scene of the movie shows President Mandela being freed from jail and driving past a field of young boys playing soccer. All the boys start chanting the Presidents name and running to the fences to get a better look. This is the first scene, and an obvious show of support and following for Mr. Mandela. Throughout the movie there are many different styles and approaches of leadership shown. Not only is President