DVD Review: Rome: Season One (2005)
Who would have thought that a TV show about the Roman Empire would be such a sexy and thrilling comment on society during times of war?
The story flips back and forth between the plot of the nobility and Julius Caesar (Ciaran Hinds from 2005’s ’Munich’) and his niece, Atia (the genius Polly Walker, 2002’s ‘Savage Messiah’), and two soliders of the lower class, the headstrong dumbbell Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson from 2004’s ‘King Arthur’) and the brave and proud Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd, 2007’s ‘Hannibal Rising’).
Both classes have their appeal, but we all can’t help but falling in love with Vorenus and Pullo. They are brutish men with their own codes and laws who are both sexy and masculine in a way that stands apart from most male characters on television.
Vorenus’ wife Niobe (Indira Varma, most recently in 2006’s ‘Basic Instinct 2′) is one of the most lovely and tragic female characters on TV. Thinking her husband was long dead, she begins an affair, but when he returns after 8 years at war she is forced to pretend that the child is instead her grandson. Niobe shows that lower class women at the time were not slaves, but just as complex as those of the upper class.
Walker is brilliant as the manipulative and controlling Atia. She goes head-to-head with her lover, Mark Antony (James Purefoy from 2004’s ‘Vanity Fair’), using her sexuality and bloodline to defend herself and her children.
This is an incredible show that seems to be pretty close to fact historically, but more than anything presents interesting characters intwined in complex and fascinating storylines.
I suppose you can guess how the season ends (it involves a dude named Brutus), but knowing what will happen is not the point, it is about enjoying the ride.
Grade: A
