"The general who became a slave, the slave who became a gladiator, the gladiator who defied and emperor."

Although I have seen Gladiator before, watching it for the sole purpose of analyzing it and such made it that much more enjoyable the second time around! The part or parts I should say, that I’m choosing to analyze are the places where there is either flashbacks or recurring images of Maximus walking towards his family. First of all, these images in the movie are of a different tint than the rest of the film. This is probably because Ridley Scott wanted to present to us the image that Maximus was in a place that wasn’t yet attainable. It wasn’t until the final scene where he is reunited with his family in his mind before he is about to die that there is light that shines through the door, light the illuminates the prairie, and this is where we finally see what his wife and son truly look like. Before this scene, all we knew was how his home looked because Maximus at some point described it to Marcus Aurelius (Caesar) and we also say these images when Commodus’s men burned and crucified his family. I think it was extremely interesting how Ridley Scott decided to only show the faces of his family once Maximus was reunited with because it’s symbolized the importance of finally being with them. The only connection to seeing them for the entire year was not through pictures, but simply by mere memory and by the little wooden figures that he carried close to him. Also, I noticed that these flashbacks seemed to only come around when Maximus showed signs of emotional weakness and pain, and when his life could potentially be in danger (i.e. first battle against the Barbarians, before the gladiator scene, while he was weak and riding home, the slave cart, and before he fought Commodus). After the movie, I came to the conclusion that Scott decided to include these images at these particular times because although he was a tough man, his family was his weak point and their death produced a bigger wound than any other wound he ever received in his life as a soldier.