Rome as a TV series? If you're wondering why in the name of the gods that HBO would give us swords and togas instead of another present-day drama like The Sopranos or Six Feet Under, the answer is simple: drama doesn't get any more classic than this. If their western Deadwood is just too dirty and profane for some people and the depression-era mysticism of Carnivale left others scratching their heads, Rome may surprise viewers with how compelling it can be and how relevant it can feel.
Hail Caesar! Really...
Last night I saw the premiere at the Wadsworth Theater at the Veteran Affairs property in Brentwood, CA. I was five rows back, center aisle, and the show took me on a journey I was glad to take. It's a fine, fine piece of film.
You know the premise: it's 52 B.C. and Gaius Julius Caesar is wrapping up his successful eight-year war in Gaul. He's coming back as a conquering hero, which sets up a fight for control of Rome with Senate leader Pompey Magnus. We're talking civil war, and without posting a spoiler here, you just know it's going to get nasty. There's a cat named Brutus in the background here. Catch my drift?
Don't think this is a history lesson, however. . .
Well, actually, do think this is a history lesson, but the kind you want to take. It's done with such impeccable accuracy that it includes detail down to the preferred sexual position of Romans, and full-frontal nudity of both men and women. It also has hot women of a certain age taking blood showers from a gored ox. Basically, it has a load of kinky sex to go along with its politics and war. The sexual explicitness is mirabile dictu (Latin for "wonderful to describe") - like it really was back in Rome in the day.
People keep wanting to compare Rome to I, Claudius, the BBC mini-series that aired in the States back in 1977, saying that production was the best program ever set in ancient Rome. I have no reason to doubt that, but most people alive today have never seen it. I haven't. And if I'm going to spend some psychic time in Rome, I'm taking the HBO tour.
There are all kinds of great actors in this piece, almost all of whom you've never heard of but who may end up being big names after this series run. The one who pops for me is Max Pirkis, who plays Octavian. He was the kid in Master and Commander who had his arm amputated. In this, he's cold, cunning and has a wonderful sense of entitlement that can only come with being born patrician in a city full of plebians.
Article comments
1 - Juan Rostagno
If auhenticity was the goal of this lavishly promoted series, it suffices to take a look at the first front view of a pussy to see HBO has done a sloppy research, or failed miserably to properly vet its nudes. How can you present a vagina shaved "a la 21st Century Hollywood" and still speak of fidelity to history?
2 - Titus Cornelius Ultor
Well...I've worked in the making of the series,but as soldier,so I dont have reason to say IT'S ALL GOOD...(the fact is that I have not seen it yet,eheh).
Anyway...the vagina SHAVED is not an ABSURD for ancient Rome...u should learn how many things NOBLE and RICH people in Rome could do...and then u could understand,eheh... Roman soldiers could shave themselves everyday,if thy wanted...
ok,just to tell history :)
3 - tarleisio
Well, someone obviously got their hairy history errrr...stuck in their throats..;) Romans - in particular patrician Romans. and especially patrician/high-born Roman women - quite frequently shaved off their pubic hair in all sorts of fancy ways, mainly because it did wonders to keep the vermin away - and with, I'm sure, a few "fringe benefits" thrown in...;)
4 - Octavian Spittle
Let's just all calm down, and admit to ourselves that we do history no justice by depicting Roman beauty with savagely bearded clams. I love hollywood.
5 - Torley Wong/Torley Torgeson
That sounds pretty surreal... I wonder if that kind of, uhm, hair will ever come back in fashion in a big way, or will we all be as hairless as chrome surfaces in the future.
6 - Student
Seeing as geneticists at the university of waterloo are experemnting on how to keep body hair from even coming in at puberty ill go with the chorme future idea
7 - wdbms
It would be helpful if people who wanted to make profound statements about female anatomy got their termonology right. One cannot shave a vagina-it's an internal structure. One might very well shave her mons venerus and her labia majora. These are external structures that sprout hair post-puberty. HBO's new series is just the latest method used by pay t.v. to use nudity to attract viewers. I have watched several episodes and I find the program rather boring.
8 - Tessa
As for comment regarding "I, Claudius"; "...most people alive today have never seen it". What utter rubbish! It was aired in 1977,not 1877 for Christ's sake. I, being the ripe old age of 29, have seen it, a number of times as well. It is, undoubtedly, an excellent example of Historical drama done flawlessly and without the gloss and gilding so often overused by Hollywood.
Regardless, "Rome" does seem to be well done, if lacking in the subtle and sinister undertones that made "I, Claudius" such a compelling and exemplary drama.
9 - Uncle Vanya
An excellent series by 'HBO' I have watched both series and thoroughly enjoyed them. The set pieces were as authentic as can possibly be known. No doubt there were experts on Ancient Rome on hand to advise the producers in the making of this serries. What it does show was that life in ancient Rome, one of the most overcrowded cities of ancient times, that life for the ordinary 'plebs' was probably short and brutish at times. I certainly think it gave a fair 'taste' of ancient Rome, obviously total accuracy cannot be achieved, but a good 'guestimate' can be taken. Well done 'HBO', I certainly will watch any future productions of an historical nature.
[Ps - yes, I did enjoy the nudes!!]