“To be stories at all they must be a series of events: but it must be understood that this series—the plot, as we call it—is only really a net whereby to catch something else.”
― C.S. Lewis, On Stories: And Other Essays on Literature
Ridley Scott is a master storyteller. The first of his films to enchant me–Blade Runner (1982)—is a heady tale of romance, action, science run amok, a dystopian vision of the future and, perhaps most of all, what it means to be human. The film is even better than the novel on which it is based, Philip Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I can’t say that about many film adaptations of good books.
Even more intriguing to me are the stories he tells in historical settings: 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Robin Hood (2010), Exodus: Gods and Kings (2024), The Last Duel (2021), Napoleon (2023), and, perhaps best of all, Gladiator (2000), nominated for 12 Oscars, winner of 5 including best picture. It’s one heck of a story, beautifully told from the murder of Marcus Aurelius by his son Commodus, to selling General Maximus Decimus Meridus into slavery, his becoming a gladiator and ultimately fighting and killing Commodus in front of a crowd in the Colosseum.
Gladiator 2 picks up 16 years later. We learn that Commodus’ sister Lucilla and General Maximus had a son, Hanno, raised incognito in Numidia where he is captured by the Roman army and, as his father before him, is enslaved as a gladiator, and fights for the entertainment of two corrupt Roman emperors, Caracalla and Geta. Numerous subplots ensue before Hanno triumphs over his enemies and is revealed as the grandson of Marcus Aurelias and the true heir to the throne.
Film critics have asked an important question about Gladiator 2. To wit, was it really necessary? Did it add anything of significance to the story told in G1? Probably not, but I’ll leave that debate to others in favor of a more compelling question. Why tell this story or any story at all?
Scott’s gladiator sagas inspired me to take a look at Gibbon’s classic The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. No, I didn’t read all six volumes, but I did read enough to learn that Commodus didn’t kill Marcus Aurelius, Maximus didn’t exist at all, much less kill Commodus in the Colosseum or father a child by Lucilla, so like his father, Hanno didn’t exist either. There was a Rome in the 2nd century, an emperor named Marcus Aurelius who had a son named Commodus and a daughter Lucilla, and Caracalla and Geta were later co-emperors. Most of the rest of these films are the products of Ridley Scott’s very fertile imagination.
Do I offer this as a criticism of his work? Of course not. Indeed, it would be inappropriate to do so for he never presents his films as history lessons. (In a TikTok exchange with Scott, British historian Dan Snow politely pointed out some of the historical inaccuracies in the film’s trailer. Scott’s response? “Get a life.”) One may question Scott’s lack of concern for historical accuracy especially when a majority of Americans get their so-called knowledge of history from fictional films and TV but pretending that he thinks his films are what really happened is just wrong. However, what is fair game for examination and critique is the story that he intends to tell, not just in G2 but in all his films.
Scott himself is never very up front about what he’s trying to say, so there are as many different opinions about his intentions as there are critics. For example, is he the traditional artist, always on a search for the three transcendentals: the good, the true, and the beautiful? In all his films he shouts his concerns for social justice, especially class conflicts. Truth is one of his favorite words, and one cannot see a Ridley Scott film without appreciating the artist’s eye for beauty which he brings to all his work. But in order for there to be transcendentals, there must be something (or someone) that is transcendent, and Scott is adamant about his disdain for religion–especially Christianity–and for the very idea of God. In his words, “The universe to me is the final character.”
Others have suggested that there is no story, no guiding philosophy at all in Scott’s work. He suggested as much in an interview with the New York Times—“I do what I feel like”—but I don’t buy it. It makes him sound like a cheap politician with no political philosophy, a narcissist who only acts to please himself. The skill, devotion, and sheer persistence he devotes to his work say otherwise.
Perhaps the most intriguing suggestion comes from his son Luke. “In each movie there is always a character who I think is Ridley. They tend to be quite peripheral, almost observers. It’s the one with a darker humor, the one who is, perhaps, the most divisive. The one who has the agenda” –Tyrell, the corporate boss in Blade Runner; Proximo, the gladiator trainer in G1; and in G2 Macrinus, played by Denzel Washington.
If Luke’s guess is correct, then the story behind Ridley Scott’s work is about an existential dilemma we’re all familiar with. Who are we? Why are we here? What’s it all about? It’s a dilemma I feel all too keenly, more so now than any time in the last 50 years. Then I was 21, wondering about what I should do with all my life. Now I am 71, retired and wondering how I should spend the rest of my life. Scott is 86 and the clock is ticking for him just as it is for the rest of us. Does he cling to the promise of Maximus’ words in G1? “What we do here echoes in eternity.” I don’t know, but I do know that if the universe is the final character, then what I do dies with me..
I’m grateful to Ridley Scott for how his films have enthralled me, educated me and challenged me. I wish him well in all his further efforts. And I wish for him what I wish for myself: hope. Not escapism or wishful thinking but what once was considered a virtue: the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Bio: Greg Grooms was on the staff of LAbri Fellowship in Switzerland and the US for 16 years before serving as director of Hill House, a Christian study center serving students at the University of Texas in Austin for 29 years. Greg and his wife Mary Jane are now happily retired in the mountains of Colorado.
Film Credits:
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenplay: David Scarpa
Director of photography: John Mathieson
Cast:
Paul Mescal (Lucius Verus / Hanno)
Denzel Washington (Macrinus)
Pedro Pascal (General Acacius)
Connie Nielsen (Lucilla)
Joseph Quinn (Emperor Geta)
Fred Hechinger (Emperor Caracalla)
Photo credit: Film still from Gladiator II.
