brucebrickhouse Reviews

Seneca (2023)

An art film that has its moments

[7/10 · 27 November 2023]

Seneca was a stoic philosopher and moralist known today for his letters, dialogs and plays, all of which are readily available and eminently readable. He survived the brutal reign of Caligula, was exiled under Claudius, and was a tutor and advisor to Nero. Like many close to this emperor (or Mr. President in the film), Seneca did not survive the experience, and committed suicide in 65 AD on orders of Nero.

Malkovich delivers a fine performance while quoting various Senecan type things. It's very close to a monologue. Being an art film, it has some very weird twists, most of which fall very flat indeed - from Nero's sunglasses to the bizarre paper-mache microphone and the bizarre staging of the play-within-a-play, Seneca's own Thyestes. That aside, it's an interesting meditation on death, and worth watching if you're a fan of the classics.

The modernization and attempted comparison to modern falls flat, and spoils what might have been a fascinating stoic 'letter' to the present.

The Cleopatras (1983)

Gets better once you forgive the production values

[7/10 · 17 December 2019]

I've only seen this from youtube, and that from what appears to be videotaped years ago from a TV broadcast. The other reviewers have it right - a cheesy, zero budget production, shocking to our eyes 40 years later for exposed (yet unattractive) breasts and the psychotronic visuals and segue fades.

But the history - which is why I was watching it - isn't bad at all, and tells an almost unknown story of the murderous Ptolemy family, the last Pharaohs, a Greek family established after Alexander conquered Egypt, and the last dynasty before the Romans ended what was left of the Egyptian empire, after a 2,500-3,000 year run. It gets better as it goes along, possibly because of the efforts of the redoubtable Robert Hardy, a hardy perennial in 1970s mini-series, and because the story is more familiar of the last Cleopatra, lover of Caesar and Marc Antony- Cleopatra VII. The costumes and dancing also seem to have been well researched, Even the strap-on beards are accurate, if a bit silly looking, and the Pharoahs do wear the battle helmet only when appropriate.

If you enjoy history, and 1970s mini-series (truly the golden age of history and other mini-series, at least with respect to historical accuracy), roll your eyes a few times and suspend judgement of bizarre effects and enjoy this series. It deserves to be dusted off and made available on DVD or streaming.

Colosseum: Rome's Arena of Death (2003 TV Movie)

If you're a Classical addict, watch it. Otherwise...

[6/10 · 14 April 2006]

Odd mix of original language, voice-over (multiple narrators with not distinctive enough voices), filmed drama, attempt at a documentary. I found it enjoyable, because I enjoy nearly everything about the classical world, and enjoy accuracy if the entertainment factor isn't there.

It was nice to see some myths defused, such as gladiators were always killed in the matches. But information regarding the building itself was glossed over. It's an architectural marvel, and deserves as much attention as the bloody spectacles that went on inside.

So if you're a history buff, this isn't boring. If you're not, you may be bored and possibly confused. And it seems that something with this big a budget could have been better. The voice over narrative consists of quotes, the narrator, the subject of the story (Verus the slave), so it gets a bit crowded.

The big cat facts and portrayal were probably the most interesting parts of the video