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CURRENTLY IN MOVIES
The secret

James Toews

We live in bloodthirsty times.

Recently I saw Gladiator, a new Hollywood blockbuster. It is an epic-style story of a Roman general named Maximus whose life suddenly turns upside down when the Emperor [Marcus Aurelius 161-180 AD] under whom he has served is assassinated by the crown prince [Commodus]. It is a story of changing fortunes, Roman brutality and political chaos which has overtones of an older classic, Ben Hur. Like Ben Hur, it is a fictional story set in a historic context.

In the tradition of modern action movies, endless scenes of mutilations, decapitations and incinerations assault the audience. Because the movie is set in an era of Roman excess and decadence, the producers of the film clearly felt that their artistic integrity demanded that they fully exercise their considerable skills at depicting human suffering and dismemberment.

I came out of the theatre wondering what had brought on the lapse of judgement that had led me into the theatre at all. With a title such as Gladiator, the outcome was predictable.

There was also another question raised by the movie: What draws audiences to movies like this?

Gladiator is a movie of our times, just as Ben Hur was a movie of its time. The battle scenes are inspired by the martial arts and video games. Maximus and his friends survive mind-boggling attacks and yet are able to retaliate with laser-like precision using the most unlikely of weapons. He is a thoroughly “modern” warrior.

Emotionally, Maximus is also a man for the new millennium. He is able to shift seamlessly between violence and tenderness, aggression and calmness, cat-like cunning and dove-like naivete. Somehow, though he has risen to the apex of Roman political power, a deep personal innocence remains. He is a thoroughly “modern” hero.

It is in its very modernity that Gladiator makes an interesting statement about its own genre. In a discussion of the brutal nature of the “games”, an interesting comment is made – “The games reveal the heart of the people.” The people had a craving for blood, and those who entertained and ruled them knew it well. Underneath a veneer of high Roman civilization beat a barbarian heart.

Now, being “modern” means that we must rise above such bloodthirstiness. And so Maximus shifts seamlessly from the exhilaration of battle and the approval of the crowds to a lofty commentary on the unpleasant nature of the work that he is engaged in. Like a true “modern”, he raises himself above the cheering crowds of barbarians. “I might be here, but I am not enjoying this,” he declares in so many words.

It is in the shallowness and superficiality of this lie that Gladiator answers the question, “Why do we go to movies like this?” The answer is actually quite simple – we enjoy them. Why is blood spilled by the gallon? Because those who entertain us know what we crave. We are barbarians who love to sit in the stands and watch the spectacle, and the more awful the sound of pain and the more graphic the dismemberments, the more we clamour and roar. Those who put on the show read our signals very carefully – they give us exactly what we want.

No one likes to be thought of as a barbarian, and usually those who entertain us are careful to reassure us that we, like Maximus, don’t actually enjoy brutality. In Gladiator, however, the thin lie that history demands that we show every detail, cracks and exposes the awful truth – like the decadent Romans, we are a bloodthirsty people. That is why we are in the stands.

James Toews is senior pastor of Neighbourhood Church in Nanaimo, B.C.

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Last modified September 19, 2000.

© 2000 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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