Gladiator Screenshot--Caitlyn

This scene from Gladiator (2000) was absolutely heartbreaking, as Maximus returns home after his escape from the Praetorian Guard, he finds his home farm burned and his wife and son hung and tortured. 

The hanging feet of his deceased family frame the image. The audience doesn't need to be shown the entirety of the bodies, as the reaction of Maximus shows that he's collapsed with grief and they are dead before him. The excessive dirt and possible burn marks on their feet tell how they were beaten and thrown around before they were hung. Maximus sits farther back in the shot, pictured between the two bodies of his family. He is sitting in child's pose, as he's fallen to his hands and knees from the horrors displayed at his front door and is crying. The foreground of the shot is covered in shadows, and sunlight comes in right behind Maximus so the audience can see the destruction in the background. There is smoke coming from the ground and smashed pots, showing the torching and ransacking the soldiers did to his home right before he got there. This lighting contrast shows that even though there is destruction everywhere, the true darkness starts at the door where the dead wife and son are. This could also be a reflection of Maximus' thoughts, as he blames himself for their death by being a traitor, and their death is the true darkness in his heart. 

-Caitlyn Almquist

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