One Villainous scene!
So Nando Versus Movies decided to gather up all the popular YouTubers to reminisce on one villainous scene, and me, with my everlasting ego, decided that now was the perfect time to spill my Dr Pepper all over their legacy by making my own essay about my favorite villain scene. And hey, it’s another excuse for me to talk about Joaquin Phoenix’s tremendous acting, so here we are.
For the clueless, Gladiator is a 2000 historical epic about the Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius, his relationship and betrayal by the Roman Emperor Commodus, and his climb back to the top of Rome to enact his revenge against the man that had ruined his life.
If that absolutely perfect summary of Gladiator hasn’t convinced you to watch the movie, I highly encourage you to click off this video and go watch it yourself. Gladiator is a genuinely touching experience that leaves you hanging on the edge of your seat while simultaneously silently making you cry. It’s a beautiful masterpiece of a film and a must watch for any movie-goer.
This is also your first and final spoiler warning, because I will be diving deep into the character of Commodus, and what exactly is it that makes his character work. Without further ado, this is my One Villainous Scene.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2jbK6dGLGc
Picture this: you’re a kid who has been neglected your whole life. Your dad is always busy and almost never present in your life, your mother treats you as a monster. You don’t have anyone to play with. All your life, you just want someone to acknowledge you, to see you. Your dad writes to you, but it’s like he doesn’t care for you, he talks of his 14 major virtues, none of which you have. You despise that person who has those virtues, and all your life, all you wanted was your father to acknowledge you and to accept you despite your faults and shortcomings.
It’s under these circumstances that Commodus finds himself in, facing his father. He so desperately wants to hear those sweet words, the words that proved to him that all his years of suffering weren’t for nothing. “Are you ready to do your duty to Rome”? His father asks him. He braces himself, terrified of his father’s next words.
“You will not be emperor”
his face falls a little, but he still holds on. Maybe it’s not as bad as it seems, maybe it’s not because of his personality or my failures. So he just has to ask, “Which wiser, older man is to take my place?” Who was the person that just so happened to be more mature than I was, who was just older than me, who was the person that wasn’t necessarily better than me, but more prepared than me at this moment?
And then the next words hit him like a truck: “My powers will pass to Maximus.”
Commodus falters, and yet ironically, it’s like a giant weight is lifted off his shoulders. He’s spent his life worried about what his father thought about him, and now, finally he has proof that his father never truly loved him. Finally, he can say the words that he’s always been terrified to say. “I searched the faces of the gods, for ways to please you, to make you proud.” Commodus has never wanted power, he has never wanted to control, the only thing he wanted was his father to love him, and he can’t even gain something so small to give, one full hug, maybe some words of encouragement, would be like “the sun on my heart for a thousand years.” The music flares up, the emotions swell, and it culminates into Commodus hugging so hard that he smothers his own father, killing him. “I would butcher the whole world, if you would only love me.”
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Gladiator feels like a much better Joker movie than the 2019 Joker film was, especially with the message that it tries to tell. While we can understand the reasons behind Commodus’s actions, Gladiator also makes it clear that they do not endorse the type of behavior. I mean, hell, there’s a reason why in every single YouTube comments section there’s at least 20 people saying something along the lines of “Hate the character, respect the actor.” What Commodus does isn’t right, and the audience knows it. But in spite of that, or maybe in service of that, this scene works because of how it portrays his troubled emotions, his anger, rage and hatred, commentating on why terrible things happen, how people like Commodus are born while not outright endorsing it, it leaves the viewers with something to think about, and a lesson learnt.
