The Eagle: Movie Thoughts
Well, I just finished watching The Eagle (2011) and, well, maintext.
The whole point of the film revolves around this centurion named Marcus Aquila, because everyone is named Marcus, and his "friend" Esca, a British slave indebted to Marcus for saving his life in the gladiatorial arena. Marcus, obsessed with restoring his family honor after the lose of the Ninth's Legions Eagle standard in a massacre twenty years before, sets out to prove himself and, in doing so, rescues the Eagle from the Sea People in the highlands of England/Scotland. He returns it home and, at the end of the film, leaves with his now free friend Esca to places unknown.
The plot is simple, based off of a few historical facts and a book written by Rosemary Sutcliff, and it's your normal run-of-the-mill action/adventure flick. Before I get to the real meat of the issue, the chemistry between the two protagonists, I want to nitpick a bit.
The Roman forts we see at the beginning of the film were, in my opinion, very well made. It actualyl appears that the production team did their homework and, according to the ten minute making-of extra, they did. They put a lot of time and effort into making the Roman fort as authentic as possible, probably made possible by the low budget of the rest of the film where Marcus and Esca are running around Northern Britain, but I give this part two-thumbs up. Down to the legionaries working on the fort themselves in sandals to the layout of the camp, I found it impressive. The fighting techniques used by the actors were also well done. I did not see as much slashing of the gladius as I would normally expect -- it is very much a stabbing weapon -- and the shields were used correctly. Even the uniforms looked not just battle-worn but loved and cared for. The only issue I had was the fact that Marcus was so young for a centurion with no favors to call in after the disgrace to his family. Other than that, I found it all to be a wonderful representation of the Roman army as a whole.
The things I didn't like mainly revolved around the Ancient British people and the obvious stereotypes the producers employed. They admitted during the making-of that the "Sea People," the main adversaries to Marcus and Esca, were made-up in the novel and, thus, made-up on-screen as well. Of course, there had to be a lot of dancing, erotica movements during a tribal ceremony, and drinking of some substance (the audience will probably assume will be blood) to induce a heightened state of arousal. All of that made me cringe. How very typical of a historical piece to do this.
I also find it hard to believe that the language Esca spoke to his people was anything close to what the people were speaking at the time, not to mention the fact that probably a couple dozen different dialects were used in various tribes. I'm guessing they used Gaelic, which is easier, and more foreign, to use than anything an American audience would expect. It really just was the dancing that got me at the end. I know it was a plot point however it seems that in every movie that has an ancient, mysterious culture you need to add a weird, strange, and painted dance that involves being high, blood, weird dancing, and fire.
The good thing was the complete slash potential. I'm not the biggest fan of slash in the world, minus femslash, but this movie probably made the subtext between the two main characters, Marcus and Esca, maintext without even trying. I think you'd have to be rather blind to not see the stares they gave each other, how they saved each other again and again, and how honor no longer became the bonding point for them at the end of the movie, but something more. The actors and producers will go to any length to say the story is about friendship yet, in all honesty, I disagree on a historical and a thematic point.
First of all, homosexuality in the ancient world, at least for Greece and Rome, was not necessarily taboo. The Greeks had their, well, "thing" with pedophilia and Romans, although a bit more uptight about it, understood it to a point. Focusing more on the Romans, let's get started.
It was sort of a "don't ask, don't tell" sort of rule, at least where men were concerned, regarding sex with a member of the same sex. Because the Romans had a huge issue regarding power, control, and what they called dignitas, a Roman man would be shamed if he submitted, sexually, to anyone else. Except for a slave or a non-Roman, which, to them, weren't people at all. Having sex with a male slave would be perfectly acceptable as long as the Roman was the penetrator, not the one being penetrated. This distinction was very important. So was the phallic symbol but I'm getting ahead of myself. In fact, during the time that this movie is set, homosexuality was even more public than during the Republic or later Empire, not to mention Hadrian loved the Greeks.
Anyway, back to the submaintext. It is entirely plausible, in a historical fashion, that Marcus had sex with his slave. In fact, I would find it hard to believe if he hadn't. Although slaves were not treated the same way we think of slaves today, they did belong to their master, their dominus, and had to submit. However, rape of a slave was just considered bad form as they were valuable property (that's why most gladiatorial films are wrong: slaves are expensive, their owners don't want them to die after training them so hard to fight, and most fights were not to the death). The way that Esca gives himself over to Marcus via his father's dagger shows a him being submissive, saying "I'm yours, no matter how much I may hate you," and became the the way in which their relationship changed.
Throughout the movie, the two character bond, talk of their lives, and come to terms with the idea that maybe they weren't so different after all. Although this is out-of-place for a Roman to consider a British man an equal, partially a freed slave which were, in general, placed below Romans of regular birth, it still creates a dynamic that only film could show.
Frankly, from the moment Marcus saw Esca, sparks were flying. Everywhere. And I didn't even need my slash goggles with me. As for the ending...well, let's just say I think they stuck together, in whatever capacity they happened to be in.
As for the movie itself it was a fun ride through Ancient Rome, and the battle scenes were enjoyable. Character development was minimal, and most of the time I was just looking for the slashy moments between the two characters. Oh, and Donald Sutherland is always a good reason to watch a movie, no matter how small a part he played. Plus, if you like man-candy, you certainly have a decent amount of muscular men without shirts. Esca and Marcus both had their moments of shirtlessness. Violence rating was low, even for the "unrated" cut of the film I watched, and nothing too bloody for the squeamish.
Rating: C
The whole point of the film revolves around this centurion named Marcus Aquila, because everyone is named Marcus, and his "friend" Esca, a British slave indebted to Marcus for saving his life in the gladiatorial arena. Marcus, obsessed with restoring his family honor after the lose of the Ninth's Legions Eagle standard in a massacre twenty years before, sets out to prove himself and, in doing so, rescues the Eagle from the Sea People in the highlands of England/Scotland. He returns it home and, at the end of the film, leaves with his now free friend Esca to places unknown.
The plot is simple, based off of a few historical facts and a book written by Rosemary Sutcliff, and it's your normal run-of-the-mill action/adventure flick. Before I get to the real meat of the issue, the chemistry between the two protagonists, I want to nitpick a bit.
The Roman forts we see at the beginning of the film were, in my opinion, very well made. It actualyl appears that the production team did their homework and, according to the ten minute making-of extra, they did. They put a lot of time and effort into making the Roman fort as authentic as possible, probably made possible by the low budget of the rest of the film where Marcus and Esca are running around Northern Britain, but I give this part two-thumbs up. Down to the legionaries working on the fort themselves in sandals to the layout of the camp, I found it impressive. The fighting techniques used by the actors were also well done. I did not see as much slashing of the gladius as I would normally expect -- it is very much a stabbing weapon -- and the shields were used correctly. Even the uniforms looked not just battle-worn but loved and cared for. The only issue I had was the fact that Marcus was so young for a centurion with no favors to call in after the disgrace to his family. Other than that, I found it all to be a wonderful representation of the Roman army as a whole.
The things I didn't like mainly revolved around the Ancient British people and the obvious stereotypes the producers employed. They admitted during the making-of that the "Sea People," the main adversaries to Marcus and Esca, were made-up in the novel and, thus, made-up on-screen as well. Of course, there had to be a lot of dancing, erotica movements during a tribal ceremony, and drinking of some substance (the audience will probably assume will be blood) to induce a heightened state of arousal. All of that made me cringe. How very typical of a historical piece to do this.
I also find it hard to believe that the language Esca spoke to his people was anything close to what the people were speaking at the time, not to mention the fact that probably a couple dozen different dialects were used in various tribes. I'm guessing they used Gaelic, which is easier, and more foreign, to use than anything an American audience would expect. It really just was the dancing that got me at the end. I know it was a plot point however it seems that in every movie that has an ancient, mysterious culture you need to add a weird, strange, and painted dance that involves being high, blood, weird dancing, and fire.
The good thing was the complete slash potential. I'm not the biggest fan of slash in the world, minus femslash, but this movie probably made the subtext between the two main characters, Marcus and Esca, maintext without even trying. I think you'd have to be rather blind to not see the stares they gave each other, how they saved each other again and again, and how honor no longer became the bonding point for them at the end of the movie, but something more. The actors and producers will go to any length to say the story is about friendship yet, in all honesty, I disagree on a historical and a thematic point.
First of all, homosexuality in the ancient world, at least for Greece and Rome, was not necessarily taboo. The Greeks had their, well, "thing" with pedophilia and Romans, although a bit more uptight about it, understood it to a point. Focusing more on the Romans, let's get started.
It was sort of a "don't ask, don't tell" sort of rule, at least where men were concerned, regarding sex with a member of the same sex. Because the Romans had a huge issue regarding power, control, and what they called dignitas, a Roman man would be shamed if he submitted, sexually, to anyone else. Except for a slave or a non-Roman, which, to them, weren't people at all. Having sex with a male slave would be perfectly acceptable as long as the Roman was the penetrator, not the one being penetrated. This distinction was very important. So was the phallic symbol but I'm getting ahead of myself. In fact, during the time that this movie is set, homosexuality was even more public than during the Republic or later Empire, not to mention Hadrian loved the Greeks.
Anyway, back to the submaintext. It is entirely plausible, in a historical fashion, that Marcus had sex with his slave. In fact, I would find it hard to believe if he hadn't. Although slaves were not treated the same way we think of slaves today, they did belong to their master, their dominus, and had to submit. However, rape of a slave was just considered bad form as they were valuable property (that's why most gladiatorial films are wrong: slaves are expensive, their owners don't want them to die after training them so hard to fight, and most fights were not to the death). The way that Esca gives himself over to Marcus via his father's dagger shows a him being submissive, saying "I'm yours, no matter how much I may hate you," and became the the way in which their relationship changed.
Throughout the movie, the two character bond, talk of their lives, and come to terms with the idea that maybe they weren't so different after all. Although this is out-of-place for a Roman to consider a British man an equal, partially a freed slave which were, in general, placed below Romans of regular birth, it still creates a dynamic that only film could show.
Frankly, from the moment Marcus saw Esca, sparks were flying. Everywhere. And I didn't even need my slash goggles with me. As for the ending...well, let's just say I think they stuck together, in whatever capacity they happened to be in.
As for the movie itself it was a fun ride through Ancient Rome, and the battle scenes were enjoyable. Character development was minimal, and most of the time I was just looking for the slashy moments between the two characters. Oh, and Donald Sutherland is always a good reason to watch a movie, no matter how small a part he played. Plus, if you like man-candy, you certainly have a decent amount of muscular men without shirts. Esca and Marcus both had their moments of shirtlessness. Violence rating was low, even for the "unrated" cut of the film I watched, and nothing too bloody for the squeamish.
Rating: C