Spartacus, the name has seeped itself into the minds of people even two thousand years after the man existed. A former gladiator slave who led a revolt against the Roman empire and although he and his forces were brutally defeated, his name has become synonymous with the fight for freedom and liberty. His story has also captured the minds of many storytellers and one such series is Starz’ Spartacus series. You’ve probably heard about how violent and crude this show is. The entire series is on Netflix, so I decided to give it a watch and I must say, it started on shaky ground at first but once I adapted to its over-the-top style I fell in love with this story and its characters.
A Pure Swords & Sandals Experience
Swords and Sandals is basically an offshoot of Sword & Sorcery but minus the Sorcery part. And this series really captured the tone of the genre. There was extreme gore, it’s crazy how violent this show was and there was a lot of sex and nudity. The stakes were always personal to the characters and there was enough backstabbing and betrayal to make even Brutus jealous. Yes, some of the fighting scenes are campy but that just added to how fun this series was, even though some of the gore is so ridiculous it made me chuckle.
The Cast
From Lucy Lawless (Xena) to Manu Bennet (Arrow) the cast of Spartacus was the best thing of this show, next to storytelling. Though I have to admit, I fell in love with Andy Whitfield’s version of Spartacus, but sadly the actor passed away after Season 1 and he was replaced by Liam Mclntyre who did his own spin on the character.
This also caused the show to film a prequel season instead of a season 2 as the production recovered from the loss.
Though I take my hat off to Dustin Clare as Gannicus as well as the writers for writing, what I feel is the best character development I have seen for a character.
Spartacus has made me wonder though, what is the greatest thing to die for? This series was based on a true story of slaves fighting and dying for their freedom… I was up all night last night thinking about what these men and women sacrificed and did to take back their freedom and it is no wonder that the name Spartacus has become so attached to the idea of liberty, freedom and fighting one’s oppressors. And after watching this series as well as knowing the true story (of which the series did its best to stick as close to as possible) I think that Rome failed in truly killing the Spirit of Spartacus because it lives on in every rebellion we have seen in history. He lives on in the hearts of those who are still fighting for freedom in faraway places. I love how this series captured the fact that Spartacus is more than just a name, it is an idea that we have the power to not only remove boot pressed upon throat but that we can sever the foot that wears it. And maybe defiance is just rooted in human nature?
And that is the most inspiring thing that I have ever seen.
In the words of the free man himself…
“I am Spartacus!”
