Thursday, November 03, 2005

Rome!

I am really enjoying the new Rome series.
For the next eleven weeks you will not be able to lure me from home on Wednesday nights! Unless I can watch the Sunday repeat.

This is Rome in all its gory. This is not the sanitised version, this is the grim-y reality:

1) Temple rituals full of superstition, bloodshed and frenzy - none of this silent kneeling in a silent temple before a still marble statue.
  • Atia chants herself into a trance and gets drenched in hot blood as the bull is slaughtered above her, in order to ensure a safe journey for her son.
2) How Roman DNA spread across the Empire. The soldiers were men, after all.
  • Mark Anthony takes the obliging shepherdess behind a tree while the convoy waits in the road and her sheep wander off.
3) The ancients were proud of the human form, unashamed of their bodies, and had no sense of privacy.
  • The attendants were not dismissed as who else would undress them? One was needed to wave the big fan, another to give them wine afterwards, and the rest just stood around.
And for the first time in television/film history, the lewd wall graffiti is a feature - prominent in the opening credits!

BBC or HBO: Do not miss this series!

6 comments:

MattJ said...

Yeah i watched that one too. I haven't watched TV for months but my PC was broken and decided to watch Attack Of the Clones. Then I put the Beeb on, awesome work. No dount there will be a littany of complaints from curtain twitchers but there always is when somehting good and interesting is shown. Soon my ineptitude at scheduling TV watching and keeping up to date with TV progs will not be a problem. soon as the new PC works i will be able to record TV to my Hard Drive :D

Anonymous said...

Gory eh? Sounds like my kind of thing. Dang that I am missing it. Shall have to catch up when back in Blighty.
Rox

Anonymous said...

Gory and naked! All your favourites, Rox.
It is good tough, I concur with all Olivia says, it's very explicit in its portrayal. I can't imagine a better pairing for a period drama than HBO and BBC, so the expectations remain high!

Anonymous said...

And about roller-coasters: they are called Montagne RUsse, Russian mountains, in Italian. Funny eh?

Olivia said...

I've been spammed quite badly today.

Matt - I hope you stick with this series.

Rox - Maybe by then series 1 will be on DVD.

Rebecca - why am I completely missing the allusion to roller-coasters?

Anonymous said...

Ii wish we had HBO. But chances are, i wouldn't remember to tune in when it is on.
Enjoy and you can give me updates.

Vanessa