“ROME” ROCKS
For those of you who don’t get HBO, one of the greatest of all mini-series is now available on dvd – ROME.
The first season of 12 episodes has just been released and it’s an extraordinary television achievement. Beginning in 52 B.C. with the Caesar/Pompey split and concluding in 44 B.C. with Caesar’s murder, this panoply of family dysfunction, political strategy and vicious cunning is a masterwork. Intelligently and accurately written (from a historical point of view), brilliantly acted by a primarily British cast and superbly directed, ROME is riveting, exciting and involving. The production values are amazing. I have never seen such extraordinary lighting in a made for television production. The cinematography, art direction, and costume design are first rate. The music is accurate for the times and extremely atmospheric. The editing is razor sharp and very well paced.
Nominated for eight Emmys (including title design, musical score, musical theme and make-up) and winner of four (art direction, costume design, hair styling and special effects), as well as recipients of awards from both the Directors Guild and the Art Directors Guild, the series is absolutely top drawer –full bloodedly dramatic and at the same time, insightful and thought-provoking.
Acting honors are shared among Polly Walker, as the scheming and deceitful Atia (remember Livia in I, CLAUDIUS? – well, Walker’s Atia makes Livia look like Mary Poppins); Max Pirkis as the teen-aged Octavian and future inheritor of the Roman Republic, always strategizing, always observing the behavior of others; Ciaran Hinds as Caesar, permitting us to see both his loyalty to the Republic and his personal corruption; Kevin McKidd as the honorable Vorenus, whose private life crumbles from inner corruption as he holds desperately to honor; Tobias Menzies as the wishy-washy Brutus, always a tool of others’ political plans; and Lindsay Duncan as Servilia, whose rejection by Caesar, begins the plotting to bring about his downfall.
The 1976 I, CLAUDIUS (which begins with the last years of Octavian’s rule as Augustus Caesar and projects us through the next four Caesars’ lives) was recorded on videotape, giving the audience an intimacy that served that production well, since it was primarily about family corruption. ROME is shot on film and rightly so, balancing intimate moments with panoply, group and crowd scenes.
The second season is in full swing – rent the first dvd containing episodes one and two, and I can guarantee you’ll be hooked.