Só Contra Roma

Competent direction, a well-constructed script, and an above-average cast elevates this "Sword-and-Sandal" production into something close to Grade-A status. In fact, when first viewed on a large theater screen while its colors were still sharp and clear, it must have been a rather impressive piece of work.

Unlike the recent "Gladiator," this movie occasionally drifts into Sunday School posturing about the rise of Christianity, but also unlike that Ridley Scott effort, it knows the value of "beefcake" and "bondage." The arena scenes here feature a number of muscular, bare-chested gladiators and leading-man Lang Jeffries often gets to show off his physique either while fighting duels or while chained to dungeon walls.

That fine actor, Philippe Leroy, adds substance to the role of the villainous Roman, Rossana Podesta makes for a suitable if somewhat subdued heroine, and Gabriele Tinti offers good support as Lang Jeffries' loyal friend.

Early in the movie Jeffries is tied to a column at the edge of the town square and given a flogging. While this flogging can't compare to the one he received in the earlier "Revolt of the Slaves," it does provide an interesting touch. The Roman in charge of the proceedings announces that the punishment will continue until the townspeople fill with gold a Roman shield which has been tossed, concave-side-up, on the ground. As Lang suffers lash after lash, various townspeople come forward, removing their gold jewelry to toss into the shield.

The movie ends with that traditional scene of the hero triumphing so spectacularly in the arena that the crowd demands he be spared. (In these movies, the hero never seems to succeed by intellectual or moral superiority by rather by sheer physical prowess.)

In ancient Italy as Roman soldiers swagger through the streets of the city of Antigonea amidst a conflict. The town is under occupation, with its citizens forced to pay a heavy ransom for the release of prisoners taken by the Romans. The rebellious Antigoneans Brenno and Goruk decide to fight back, but are unsuccessful. Goruk is the brother of the beautiful Fabiola, who in turn is betrothed to Brenno. Silla, the diabolical Roman tribune who has been placed in charge of Antigonea, is attracted to Fabiola. In order to spare her people further anguish, she agrees to live with Silla. Meanwhile, Silla sends Brenno to gladiator school so that he might hone his already impressive fighting skills and stage exhibitions for Sillas amusement. However, Brenno has other ideas on how to deal with the tyrannical Silla and free his fellow Antigoneans.

"Alone Against Rome" describes the fight and rebellion of a fictional Alesia, which is actually located in today's Burgundy and where Caesar defeated Vercingetorix the century before. Despite the lack of historical basis, which is only claimed, this peplum is unusually dark, hard edged and gives the viewer the feeling of longing for freedom and revolution, especially with the Roman Tribune -Silla - running things unfairly, demanding gold, holding hostages and sending Brenna -Lang Jeffries - to the gladiator ring and keeping his girlfriend in his household, and even forcing her to submit to him or Brenna will die. The consul Suetonius wants a peaceful occupation, but when he leaves town, his underling, the tribune Silla, rules with an iron hand. Philippe Leroy plays the character in a complex manner and eschews the pencil twirling villain approach, making him more human yet devoid of compassion, well not when it comes to Rossana Podestà, who plays Brenna's girlfriend- Lang Jeffries does well as Brenna and fights well. Speaking of which, the gladiatorial fights are gritty, well done and isn't mere two people playing patty cake patty cake with swords. It's hard-edged. The narrative is lean, the pace brisk and the plot is well-constructed. It's as good as the bigger budgeted peplums of Hollywood. The prison break scene, travelling through the catacombs, not knowing where the Romans are waiting is quite tense. And also the finale with Brenna getting attacked by the two chariots with spears sticking out of its spokes is quite exciting.

Much of this follows a rather well trammelled plot, but the last twenty minutes do redeem it somewhat. The gist? Well,"Silla" (Philippe Leroy) is left in charge of a small town. The power goes to his head somewhat, and his lust for the delightful "Fabiola" (Rossana Podestà) further clouds his judgement to the extent that rebellion is soon in the offing. That takes the shape of the man she truly loves - "Brenno" (Lang Jeffries). There is a punishment scene where "Brenno" is lashed whilst strapped to a column. It will only stop once the public "donate" sufficient gold to fill an upturned shield. I wonder if this could be a punishment re-introduced for modern day politicians? Anyway; there is a fine gladiatorial ending that, though without much jeopardy, is well staged. The dubbing isn't the best - the dialogue editor has only a limited command of colloquial English, but it's still at the better end of the Peplum production spectrum. The costumes and sets look good and there is plenty of action and scheming to keep it interesting. Worth a look!

A Roman Tribune, left behind to mind a subdued city, decides to go against orders and ends up becoming a tyrant in order to spread the glory of Rome. The tribune falls in love with a girl who is in turn in love with the leader of the rebellion.

This movie is interesting in that the villain isn't really bad, he's just misguided. From his point of view, one that is truly understandable, he's doing the right thing. This gives the movie a nice shade of gray missing from most other epics of this sort.

My one question is why is this called Alone Against Rome when no one is really alone against Rome and there isn't even a central character?

I saw this film on an old Sinister Cinema video release version just recently. It was dubbed almost as poorly as any Italian Peblum flick from the early 60's ever was and the print was panned and scanned, in poor quality, very reddish and the sound was only fair with lots of annoying hums and pops.

Still I found the film Alone Against Rome one of the very best films of this type.

The film was produced by Rossana Podesta's (known for Sodom and Gomorrah) husband. It tells the story of an over agressive Roman Tribune taking over an entire town and having Gladiator fights put on for his amusement. He takes a liking to Fabiola (Rossana) and to save her lover Brenno's life he becomes her captors lover. Her real love Brenno is forced to become a gladiator. Many of the healthiest town people, it's former rulers and guards become hostages and slaves for the Roman Tribunal. There are rebel forces that attempt to overthrow this corrupt roman tribunal.

Unlike the more recent Gladiator, this film shows the fate of a Christian hostage, avoids man against lion sequences, and shows several women throughout the town. Both Gladiator and this film feature a man doing battle against two lethal chariots outfited with sharp blades.

The film is extremely well acted (for this type of thing) has a pretty good script (though there are still some howlers in the dubbed version), and is quite suspenseful. The fights are well directed, and quite exciting to watch (usually in these types of films the fights are as phony as junior high schoolers play-wrestling--not the case here). The film was made with a pretty decent budget and while no where near the spectacle of something like Gladiator, it presents it's arena gladiator fights with plenty of spectacle.

Here's an almost lost and forgotten film that needs to be re-discovered, restored and given a DVD release. It's one of the very best of it's type. And if you are a Rossano Podesta fan she is radiant throughout.

Chris Jarmick (author of: The Glass Cocoon) 7/15/2000