Those About To Die

Loving all things “Roman”, I just had to see what this new series was all about = “Those About To Die”.

I wasn’t disappointed!

Apart from the fact that one of the main actors was also in Game of Thrones (which I am obsessed with!), it was the storyline which really caught my attention — Romans, their slaves, gladiators and chariot races.

I just binged watched the whole series over two days, which isn’t like me at all.

The story is a basic one but quite historically accurate, and with the CGI (which I ‘hope’ was used), I can only imagine that some of the scenes may be ‘quite true to life’.

I must admit, when I was watching some of the scenes I had to question what I was watching and thought ‘that’s just too far-fetched’. But in actual fact, looking up the couple of books on Rome that I do have, I found that these were very ‘true to life’ scenes — which amazed me but also horrified me that the Roman people enjoyed that kind of ‘entertainment’.

The whole series is centered around the Circus Maximus, the Colosseum and the chariot racing plus the gladiator fighting, which Rome was so famous for back in the day. The little interwoven ‘stories’ all join together into a grand climax, and the ending does leave it open for a second series (but we’ll see). What I will say is if you do not like blood and thunder, or get offended quickly, do not watch it. I’m not a lover of this kind of horror, but it was the historical ‘content’ which caught my attention.

The characters Vespasian, Titus, Domitian and Scorpus were real historical people and every bit as blood thirsty according to the history books. The others were fictional characters, made up for the story, but who (I have no doubt) ‘may’ have existed.

A highlight of the series is the episodes of the animals, dancers and the larger than life white lion, (and we all know what the lions did in these arenas). “Underground, beneath the stands, thousands of people work and live — among them many who will die for the games”.

“Those About To Do” is ‘shot’ in the year 79 => “Rome, once a beacon of civilization, is now a cesspool of corruption and decay”. The famous actor Anthony Hopkins plays a convincing Emperor Vespasian. At the age of 86 years old, this actor is just right to play this Emperor who was a very real person in the history of Rome. Iwan Rheon, who played Ramsey Bolton in Game of Thrones, is a very ‘real’ Tenax, who is much kinder than Ramsey Bolton ever was, (see, he can play a ‘nice’ part). The other actors and actresses are not so well known to me personally. However, every one of them plays convincing and amazing characters.

There are six production companies who were involved in the making of this series, which cost (are you sitting down) a cool $140 million. It was filmed in Rome’s Cinecitta’ Studios, and the producers used these studios because they were aiming for authenticity, even collaborating with the Italian museums in order to create accurate period replicas. When you watch the series, you will be convinced because everything looks so “real”.

“Those About To Die” was inspired by Daniel P.Mannix’s book of the same name, and the series was developed by Robert Rodat, and directed by Roland Emmerich and Marco Kreuzpaintner.

If you love the history of Rome, like myself, you will find this a good watch. But — there is gambling, prostitution, violence of an extreme kind and nudity on show. Mind you, from what I have read in the history books, this is not unlike what the real people of Rome were really like and how they really lived.