Spartacus

Saw Spartacus, the epic Kubrick film about a Roman slave uprising and, more broadly, about the desire for freedom. This film came out in 1960 but I think it's an early entry in the series of films which deal with the inscrutable male protagonist who lusts for freedom and sincerity. Rollerball is the most obvious example of this that comes to my mind, but I believe Cool Hand Luke, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Last Tango in Paris, and Easy Rider all fall into this category. Those films all came out in the late 60s/early 70s however so this one is a bit ahead of the curve. Anyway, there's an interest in the earthy and sincere. Children and old couples are focussed on. The enthusiastic but ragtag slave army is shown in contrast to the well-paid but organized Empire.

So the antagonists are of course the decadent Roman patricians. The first example of them we see are visiting noblemen and women who request to see the two most handsome slaves fight to the death. This mix of sex and death casts them as vapid but also over-cultured, decadent, in contrast to the sincere protagonist who delights in the simple pleasures of bread and family. The chief antagonist is even suggested to be bisexual, so great is his depravity. This treatment of homosexuality (as a shorthand for moral bankruptcy) sucks of course and I wish directors would stop doing it (so take note, 1960s: you're on notice.)

I feel this film either reflected or predicted a lot of zeitgeist in the 60s. Very early in the film, a voiceover brings up the eventual eradication of slavery thousands of years later (which must come as a relief to these folks) and of course freedom is the central preoccupation of the film. Meanwhile the 60s were a time of great expansion of civil liberties and the US of course models itself off of the great Roman Republics, even incorporating Fasces into its iconography. At one point Spartacus snaps one of these fasces in two, which is pretty pointed symbolism.

The film itself is quite long (~4 hrs) but entertaining and interesting. I had to take a break halfway through but everyone's performance is solid. Kubrick creates these magnificently artificial composed shots that rest a tad uneasily up against all the sincerity-worship, but they are pleasing to the eye nonetheless. A bit of a slog, but overall quite good.