Gladiator - 73rd Best Picture Winner

Gladiator - 73rd Best Picture Winner
2000
#52

Starring:
Russell Crowe
Joaquin Phoenix

Directed By:
Ridley Scott

2000 Academy Awards
Winner:
Best Picture
Best Actor
Best Visual Effects
Best Costume
Best Sound Mixing

Other Films Nominated:
Chocolat
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Erin Brockovich
Traffic

This is one of the films in the list that I've seen before, in fact, I've seen it in part or whole a number of times. The story itself is not all that complex - the life of a man, one who did not seek power, who was conspired against by those threatened by what he could possibly do. He eventually becomes something they could not predict - in more modern terms, a star - and the people grow to love him, even more than their ruler.

Maximus is a the leader of Roman legions who gains immense favor with the elderly emperor of Rome, so much that the emperor says he will be the one to inherent the throne. When the emperor's son Commodus learns of this, he murders his father, takes the throne, and asks for Maximus' loyalty, which he refuses. The new emperor then sends word to have Maximus' family killed, and after burying them, Maximus is taken captive and forced to become a Gladiator. He has superior skill, and with it, beats every opponent. When they are given the chance to fight at the Colosseum, he shocks Commodus by still being alive. This infuriates Commodus, who, after a series of events in which Maximus tries to escape to lead an army against the emperor, faces him in the arena. Even after severely wounding him, Maximus is still able to kill Commodus before dying of his wounds.

While the movie is a good and engaging story with plenty of action, I think much of the reason it won it's Oscar is due to the new level of effects used in the production. The filmmakers used actual footage of the Colosseum as it now stands, in ruins, for their epic shots of the arena. They combined them with new technology allowing for seamless integration of computer generated graphics and real images to give the viewer an overwhelmingly immense and accurate look at what the arena once was. It's interesting to note that one of the other nominated films that year, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, also used some revolutionary technology to create it's high flying, acrobatic sword fights, but even though that film also has an epic scale, it still feels as so much fantasy while Gladiator felt visceral and real. More than 14 years later though, both still are excellent films and represent some of the better works ever to receive nominations.