This unjust death marked a generation of viewers

Warning, the article below contains potential spoilers. If you do not want to understand the content, please do not read the following…

Since the dawn of cinema, there have been countless films that have given rise to the phrase “death is unfair,” but few have lived up to it quite like Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. If you’ve seen the movie, you can clearly see the moment we’re talking about here, it just broke our hearts.

Gladiator tells the story of how Commodus, the son of Marcus Aurelius, seizes power and orders the arrest of the successor to the throne, the Roman general Maximus. The latter manages to escape, but is unable to prevent the massacre of the family. Captured by a slave trader, he becomes a gladiator and plots revenge.

Shortly before the film’s final showdown between Maximus (Russell Crowe) and Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), the latter stabs the former general-turned-slave-turned-gladiator while he is bound and imprisoned in the arena’s vault. . Then he orders to cover up the wound and start the battle. Maximus, greatly weakened by this injury, is left with some disabilities.

Once in the arena, while the people of Rome catch their breath, Maximus manages to get the better of Commodus, which he finishes by stabbing him with the dagger that wounded him moments earlier. The emperor collapses and Maximus steps forward to demand the release of his fellow slaves and the restoration of Lord Gracchus and the Roman Republic.

He in turn collapses on the hot sands of the arena, dead from a treacherous blow before the battle. An unfair end for this hero of exemplary justice who never failed in his ideals. The film asks the question: “Is Rome worth the life of a good man?”

It is difficult for the public to hold back tears before Maximus, who is carried off by Roman guards, or before Juba, who buries the statues of the general’s son and wife in the sand of the arena.

In anticipation of Gladiator 2, scheduled for November 2024, which suffered a terrible filming accident, the first film marked the start of the 2000s, collecting $503.1 million worldwide (including 4.8 million tickets in France alone). The Academy of Oscars also hailed this success with 12 nominations and 5 statues, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell Crowe.