Saturday, October 25, 2008

As Romans Do

In tenth standard back in India, we had Shakespeare's Julius Caesar for ICSE. Always was my favorite. But last week I saw the best movie on ancient Rome, ever. Not exactly a movie, but a TV series. Or, as they would say, "it's not TV, it's HBO":



Boston Brahmin doesn't have cable, but he does have a home theater setup, and the series is available on DVD. The costumes and colors look totally stunning.

The complete first season consists of a dozen episodes about 45 minutes long. What can I say: the mixture of real historical figures and a few fictional ones, the ultra-realistic view of ordinary life in Rome circa 44 BC, the all-British cast, the lavish production, everything is totally excellent. It's very violent and explicit, beyond R rated, definitely not for children. Read all about it on IMDB.