Word: emperor
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...potential suitors whose resumes have not included a stint as the leader of a European realm may find themselves out of luck. In her latest book, The Camino, MacLaine reveals that during a spiritual trek in Spain, she learned that in a former life she and the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne had been lovers. She describes the King of the Franks, who died in 814, as a "lusty" man who "loved to swim." As luck would have it, she says she met up with him again in this lifetime, reincarnated as the late Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme. She reports...
...term problems that distract attention from the fundamental change now taking place. Yes, the West mastered the technology that China first discovered. Yet much more important, according to Needham, was that China lost its edge in the 15th century by suppressing entrepreneurs whose power posed a threat to the Emperor. The empire was made safe from within, but at the price of atrophy in the face of the Western challenge. This condition continued under Mao Zedong...
...plot, familiar from the 1964 epic The Fall of the Roman Empire, is this: in A.D. 180, Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) is ailing. He anoints his best general, Maximus (Crowe), a man whose motto is "Strength and Honor," as Protector of Rome until it can again become a republic. Before announcing his decision, Marcus informs his son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), who lusts to be Emperor. Commodus is displeased by the news; he smothers Marcus in his bosom, murdering him with a filial embrace, and proclaims himself Emperor. In short order, the nasty boy has swiped Maximus' job, ordered...
...terms of plot, Gladiator has some fairly epic ambitions of its own. Maximus is adored by the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), who is nearing death and tortured by uncertainties over his place in history. Therefore, he decides to bypass his power-hungry son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), as emperor and invest all his authority in Maximus, who can then re-empower the senate and help Rome return to its glory days as a republic. Maximus is not particularly enthusiastic he'd much rather occupy his time with a less stressful task, like tending crops, but he reluctantly agrees. Next...
...Blade Runner is his best film) and here the human relationships are often severely lacking, cold even. The friendship between Maximus and a fellow gladiator (played by Amistad's Djimon Hounsou) has no emotional resonance, nor does his bland romance (if you want to call it that) with the emperor's sister (Connie Nielsen). And as wonderful as Crowe is, the detached nature of his character (mostly the fault of the script) hinders his ability to turn Maximus into a truly mythic hero. The great Hollywood epics all had a sense of sweeping emotional grandeur (when the rebels all yell...