Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (TV Mini Series) Rebellion (2006) User Reviews

The empire against local particularism:the virtues of integration or rather the costs trying to affirm distinct identities

[georgioskarpouzas · 7/10 · 29 April 2007]

This is the best of the episodes(the four) I have seen and the one that has the very able idea of integrating in the plot the life one the sources of those events, namely the historian Josephus who is the exact equivalent of the Greek Polybius another historian coming from a defeated civilization who has lived in Rome under aristocratic protection and wrote trying to convince his compatriots about the causes of Roman grandeur-Joshephus even luckier lived under imperial protection since his captor became Emperor. The brutality of the Romans is very well attested but also the futility of resistance from the part of Jewish zealots their internal strife and their mistake to assassinate their more moderate leadership who sought compromise with the Romans.One can not miss the modern equivalence with the USA against Islam for example. Nevertheless it is a good episode and the first of the four I have seen which presents the conflict of Rome against a foreign enemy as opposed to the other three which deal with Romano-roman strifes or civil wars. It is the most interesting as far as the depiction of military tactics is considered and very fine on the dilemmas of the vanquished. I think it is overestimating the threat that Judea posed to Roman Hegemony which was not much as I know from documentaries and books. But how can one know for sure? A fine episode.

Good Take on the Jewish War

[ArchStanton1862 · 9/10 · 5 April 2011]

Here's where things start getting good. These next two feel like they were done by different people, and they probably were. The stories are less sensationalized and they let the actions speak for themselves a bit more. No more radical lunatics and gay dilettantes. This one focuses on the Jewish Rebellion beginning under the reign of Nero. The main characters are the future emperors Vespasian and Titus, and the Jewish historian Josephus. The real Josephus was a bit of a snake which can make the simplistic good guy-ness of this Josephus a bit annoying, but if you haven't read his works you're probably not going to be aware of how slimy he is. I didn't care much for him (at least part of that was the acting) but others might, although he's about as Jewish as the Queen is. Even if you don't like him this story focuses more on the Romans than the Jews. Seeing them attempt to portray Vespasian as he was is very nice. The guy was basically a country boy without much refinement. The acting is nothing impressive, but its certainly competent and Vespasian and his son come off both well and fairly accurately. The battle scenes are pretty good for the budget and it's nice to see these events on film regardless of scale. It was an interesting time no doubt about it.

If you're interested in this period you should also check out the TV Miniseries Masada. It covers the events right after this and is extremely entertaining.

contemporary story

[Kirpianuscus · 8 August 2020]

Dominating is the feeling to see a contemporary story. About empirer crisis and powerful rebels against it. About courage and witness. About compromises and fall of a world. Inspired portraits. And wise manner to give the clues to define our time.

dramatic

[Kirpianuscus · 8 August 2020]

The fall of Jerusalem Temple as the last piece of the war between Rome against Jews. Realistic portraits of Vespasian, Titus and Flavius Josephus. Inspired portrait of the fundamental change of a world. A dramatic episode for contemporary reasonances .