Spartacus was the leader of a slave uprising against the Roman aristocracy that broke out in the 1st century BC. His heroic deeds, 20 centuries later, have been brought to the stage and screen many times. In 1953, Italian director Ricardo Freida made a low-budget, small-scale film "Spartacus". Kubrick's "Spartacus" is an epic blockbuster filmed by many well-known film artists.
The plot of this film is basically taken from Fast’s novel, and the stories told in the novel are different from historical records (for example, Spartacus was not the last to be nailed outside the gate of Rome, but died in battle. Battlefield, Varinia is also completely fictional). The film artistically reproduces this glorious historical picture of human beings, sympathizes with the slave uprising, and praises Spartacus. To a certain extent, it reflects the original intention of Howard Fast, the author of the novel "Spartacus": "Spartacus did not live for one era of human beings, but for all eras of human beings. I This story was written to give hope and courage to those who read it."
Kubrick, who was only 30 years old when he was invited by producer Kirk Douglas to direct the film two weeks after it started shooting, has ingeniously arranged scenes so that every actor can The director's intent is to shape the character he plays.
This film brings together many elites from American and British film and drama performances, and their excellent acting skills will undoubtedly add a lot of brilliance to the film. Spartacus is played by American actor Kirk Douglas (who also serves as a producer). The New York-born descendant of Russian-Jewish immigrants, who has been portrayed in more than 90 films, doesn't feel any aging. The Spartacus he played not only gave the audience a masculine beauty in the body, but also the dark face, the corners of his eyes and mouth with a smile, and the unforgettable chin were deeply imprinted in the minds of the audience. inside. These external images undoubtedly laid a rich foundation for the image of Spartacus, the leader of the slave uprising, and the unity of his physical and spiritual performances of strength and flexibility made Spartacus Thinking is not only active on the screen, but also penetrates deep into the hearts of the audience.
Crassus was a ruthless and scheming Roman military commander, and the massive slave uprising led by Spartacus was finally defeated by him. The famous British performing arts master Lawrence Oliver portrayed this villain vividly with his consummate acting skills. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. The most successful performance in this film should be Peter Ustinov, the headmaster of the fighting school and the bearded fat Batetus, who is humorous and errand in his role in "The Nile Massacre" The film star known as the capable Belgian detective Poirot, in "Spartacus", portrayed the greedy and stupid, cunning and cowardly face of the villain Batetus to the core.
In addition, the British actress Joan Simmons, who enjoys the reputation of "British Rose", played the beautiful and intelligent Varinia vividly; Calm and calm, but the inner nervousness of the complex psychological activities is revealed...
The film is spectacular and magnificent (more than 8,000 people participated in the shooting, with a total investment of more than 10 million US dollars), and it is full of viewing pleasure. The rich Hollywood has always had a tradition of shooting epic blockbusters. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) started the trend. Since then, the luxury masterpieces of this kind of big scenes have been released continuously, and gradually formed A type of film with Hollywood characteristics. Most of these films are based on historical legends or biblical stories, and they are designed to attract audiences with the vastness of the scene and the luxury of the setting. The rise of wide-screen movies in the 1950s made such films even more popular. His representative works include "Holy Robe" (1953), "Ten Commandments" (1956), "Ben-Hur Biography" (1959), "Exodus" (1960), "Biography of Cid" (1961), "Cleopatra" (1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), The Bible (1966). This type of film pays too much attention to the scene modeling and neglects the portrayal of the characters' characters. It often appears large and inappropriate, superficial, procrastinating, boring, and boring. This drawback is most prominent in "Cleopatra". Because this kind of expensive film was difficult to attract audiences and could not recover the cost, it declined sharply in the mid-to-late 1960s.
Although "Spartacus" is also an epic film, the writers, directors and actors have made great efforts to portray the characters. The images of several main characters are relatively full and convincing. At the same time, Kubrick The control of the scene is also excellent, showing majestic momentum without annihilating the characters. Because of this, the film received unanimous praise from critics and audiences after its release, and it was regarded as a successful epic film.
The historical theme of Spartacus has not only been brought to the screen many times, but there are also many creations of his novels. In 1874, the Italian writer and historian La Giovannioli published the novel "Spartacus", which was highly praised by the Italian national hero Garibaldi at that time. Howard Fast's novel Spartacus was published in 1952. The two novels are vastly different in structure, style, and characterization, not to mention historical details. Giovannioli's novels are more faithful to historical materials, the brewing process of the gladiator uprising, the several heavy blows to the Roman army by the slave army led by Spartacus, and the internal division of the leaders of the rebellion finally led to the failure of the uprising etc. are described more fully. The downside is that the romance between Spartacus and the noble lady Van Laelia is fictionalized and exaggerated. Faster's novel and the film based on the novel overcome this drawback, with Spartacus and his slave girl Varinia's unswerving love as a running plot line. Both are fictions, but reflect the different positions of the authors.
The film deals with a number of important historical facts in a freer or simpler way, but on the whole it still truly reproduces the cruelty of Roman slavery and the heroic image of Spartacus, who shines through the ages.
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