“Rome” Premieres on HBO

With “The Sopranos” on hiatus for a few more months and with “Six Feet Under” finished, those who have grown used to a grown-up drama fix every Sunday night from HBO are now at a loss. The network hopes they will find the new soap opera “Rome” a suitable addition. It’s a bit early to tell, but it shows promise. And it probably won’t give the story away too much to say that one of the main characters, Gaius Julius Caesar, isn’t going to die of old age in his bed.

The series begins with Caesar in Gaul, Pompey the Great in Rome, and the crossing of the Rubicon just ahead. The story is well-known to many, vaguely familiar to most, and everyone has at least heard of Julius Caesar (if not by his praenomen of Gaius). So, the excitement here is not going to come from the story but rather from the way in which it is told.

HBO and its BBC partner have created a Rome that looks more Roman than anything Cecil B. DeMille ever shot (for one thing, ancient cities were dirty). The actors speak with British class-based accents that help distinguish between the patrician class and the plebians, much of which is wasted on American ears. But at the same time, one got the feeling writer and executive producer Bruno Miller wanted to introduce the viewer to the entire Roman Empire one person at a time in the first hour.

One facet of this new series worthy of note is the way in which these Romans act more like Romans than most portrayals show. There is a marvelous scene in which Titus Pullo, a legionnaire played by Ray Stevenson, is awaiting execution and he prays for release. Unlike a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim, he offers a moderately priced lamb or six pigeons to one of the lesser gods if he is released. The Gods of Rome were to be placated, bargained with and if one of them didn’t help, there was always another to approach.

This is not “I, Claudius.” Mr. Miller and his team of writers are not Robert Graves (who really didn’t write for TV anyway), and the cast has fine actors but no Derek Jacobi, Sian Phillips or John Hurt. The series shows promise, however, and it is safe to say that the Julii are every bit as interesting as the “Six Feet Under” Fishers or “The Sopranos.” The question is can that be illustrated. If so, one will be able to revisit the glory that was Rome every Sunday. And if not, “Deadwood” starts production later this year.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
Produced using Fedora Linux.

Home