Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar is another mini series by the DeAngelis Group. Like some of their other Producions one sees a few well know actors, such as Richard Harris and Christopher Walken , as well as some local actors of Germany and Italy(Heino Ferch, Tobias Moretti).

The picture itself, even not indepth to the real Caesar story, gives an nice picture of the times of the roman empire. Nice acting, as well as a well combined cast, give a nice viewing pleasure.

Jeremy Sisto gives a new angel to a few on Caesar,Chris Noth (Sex & the City) gives a very good performance and Harris plays a Sulla, which you enjoy dying.

All in all, the about 3 hour mini series is a nice evening view for the family, bringing love, war/action as well as history into your living room.

I enjoyed this miniseries. I have some objections though. There are several factual errors, like Pompey did not crush the slave rebellion (Crassus and Cicero did), there was no law against armies south of the Rubicon - Caesar just transgressed his jurisdiction to do so. Important characters and events like Catilina's revolt, Crassus, Octavian, the war in Spain, etc. are totally left out. The characters are very shallow. Caesar himself is to sympathetic - he was a shrewd and ruthless politician.

Covering the period from Sulla's occupation of Rome in 82 BC to Julius Caesar's murder in 44 BC, this is a fairly good biography. Some of the details of Caesar's career are touched on only briefly, and some relationships are inaccurate. E.G. Brutus was Cato's son-in-law, Portia was Cato's daughter. The film says Brutus was Cato's nephew. One may be disappointed not to get the dramatic aftermath of the murder, but that would take at least another hour. One might wish for better acting here and there, but you seldom get really great made-for-TV movies. As a lifelong history buff, I found the film entertaining, even instructive once in a while.

The basic sin of this mini serie is to be too long and too short in same measure. You expect see Cicero and Crassus. You expect see a rich content about pirates . You expect see some historical accuracies. You expect see...

But the good point is the honest job of the actors. And the Ides of Mars . But nothing more or else or promising. Sure, I understand the desire of Udi Edel to meke a film about Julius Caesar. I do not understand the resulted massacre. Because the subject is real generouse. Because the death of Caesar seems a sort of punch in stomach. Too early, too forced. Because the make up, against good intentions, is awful. Because the actor deserve better dialogues and stronger roles. But , sure, it is a try. Not convincing, maybe reasonable for part of public.

My comments are mainly about the already existing comments which are nonsensical. Firstly, someone writes that it is a goof that Caesar claims to be a descendant of Venus, and that Venus is the Greek name, whereas the roman is Aphrodite. THAT is not the case: Venus is the roman name, and Aphrodite the Greek. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of mythology can tell you that.One should not write what one does not know about.

Secondly, there is a grave error in the summary: Brutus is NOT the nephew of Caesar but of Cato. Caesar had a very famous grand nephew named Gaius Octavian, aka Emperor Augustus, who is not depicted in the film but mentioned in the end credits.

I think it is OK for TV movie, but like most Roman films the "liberties" with historical facts annoys me. Still, it is far more correct than most of its ilk. A bit rushed at times, but fairly entertaining if you're into roman history.