The Gladiator Reflection

The Gladiator is one of those movies that seems like just another action movie going in, but upon truly thinking about it turns out to be a much deeper and more interesting story.  One of the greatest things about the movie is that it is set in a real historical time period (Ancient Rome) and many of the characters are actual historical figures.  That being said the story's protagonist, a gladiator who was formerly roman general, is either a combination of several real people or mostly fictional.  Ironically, it is not the fictional hero who is the most interesting but rather his enemy Commodus.  What makes Commodus such a great character is that he wants only to be loved and accepted by his people but at the same time he comes across as being nearly psychotic and homicidal.  Unlike many other tyrants though, there is nothing about him that seems to show power, in fact his story is much more about how despite being the emperor Commodus lacks any real power.  This not only hurts Commodus, but it actually breaks him causing him to do ridiculous and terrible things.  Commodus was interesting enough that after the movie was over I ended up reading a little bit more about him just to see what he was like in real life as well.  As far as the best and worst parts of the film, I would argue that in addition to the way Commodus was portrayed I was pleased that while there was enough of a plot to be entertaining it never seemed to be to slow or to be too confusing.  As for the negative aspects, I wish that they could have been a little more historically accurate.  Also, while I enjoyed the film and I think of it as being a good movie, it seemed to be just that.  There were good or even very good things about the movie but it seemed to be lacking that quality that takes a movie to the next level and makes it a truly great movie.
As for a theme of this movie, I would argue that a possible theme would be that "True power can be attained by even the lowest members of society".  This is not to say that a slave or servant has the same tools as a king, but rather that powerful people such as leaders or political thinkers can be found in every class and that it is those people who ultimately will decide the course of history.  In ancient Rome a gladiator is equal to a slave in terms of rights and privileges whereas the emperor supposedly is infallible.  Yet in the end Maximus is able to kill the emperor and emerge victorious.