Analysis on the opening sequence of Gladiator

Gladiator is a historical action film about a roman general (Maximus) who is betrayed and enslaved as a gladiator who slowly makes his way up the ranks up the gladiator industry of ancient Rome where he eventually faces the emperor, the man who betrays him, and kills him in the arena. The opening sequence takes place in Germania where Rome has one final battle against the Germans to establish peace throughout the empire. At the beginning of the scene we see an establishing shot of the forests of Germania, the setting is very dark and the camera pans round to a roman legion to establish what is happening (A battle is about to take place). We then see Maximus walking through his legion, he is wearing better armour to the rest of the soldiers and he is a lot cleaner to establish that he is an important character and is the general of the man because they all salute him as he walks past. The barbarians then appear out of the woods with the head of a roman diplomat which clearly shows they will not be conquered so easily, they are a lot hairier and scarier than the romans which shows they are clearly the enemy. Maximus has a conversation with his second in command, Quintus, who goes to say, "People should know when they're conquered" to which Maximus replies "Would you, Quintus?" which makes it clear to the audience that Maximus is a man of honour and integrity, further establishing his character because it shows that he has respect for his enemy.

The setting is very exotic, quite clearly deep in Germania with a very dark setting with dark woods which is very realistic, furthermore the costumes of both romans and barbarians is very realistic in terms of armour and props. This film would appeal to mainly adult audiences especially ones who have an interest in Roman history. The film is clearly a historical action film. The only title added into the sequence is "Germania" at the beginning to set the scene, they use the Latin word for Germany to fit in with the time period and genre. The sequence makes you wonder what the outcome of the battle is and how Gladiators are integrated into the film. The sound in the film plays a big part; the soundtrack is from an orchestra to fit the time period and the music makes Maximus seam more important. The German war cries also create a dangerous and scary atmosphere because they echo over the wind talking in hard Germanic speech