Watchin' a little movie on television

Sometimes a little television is good for the heart, or at least, gets me crying at the end (reminds me of my reading the other day!).

We watched the first installment of Into the West -- seemed good, we enjoyed it. Then, whaddaya know, Gladiator is on! The recent one, with Russell Crowe. I stayed up and watched the whole thing, even though I've seen it and I KNOW about the tragedy and madness, and how it all ends. So terribly sad. Yet lush and gorgeous to watch -- costumes, sets, lighting, the way the movie unfolds, the whole bit.

I realized that for me this movie is equally or more about Marcus Aurelius's daughter (Lucilla?) than it is about Maximus, Russell Crowe's character. Her situation is so incredibly tragic; she is trapped with her insane brother like an insect in a spider's sticky web, and it means her beloved son is sooo vulnerable. You see it all in her face every time she's on screen.

Interestingly, I'm pretty sure that TNT or whoever cut a LOT of gore, 'cause I seem to recall this as a very, extremely, semi-shockingly gory movie but we sure didn't see much of anything in that direction tonight. Not in the opening battle, not in the gladiators' fights. Hm. Makes the movie kind of different, and I think it's a better movie with than without that stuff.

Anyway, I may be a sucker, but I think this movie is quite worth watching. The end, the tragic, inevitable, noble end! Sniff, sniff, sniffle.