Révoltes barbares

As an ex-high school Ancient History teacher, I thought this series took a very one-eyed view of Rome and, as others have pointed out, gets a few of the "facts" wrong. It depicted the Romans as the bad guys and the barbarians as the good guys (and girls). The ancient world was a pretty brutal place no matter where you were.

Think back to the "What have the Romans ever done for us?" scene in Monty Python's Life of Brian where the troupe satirically reels off a long list of the good things the Romans had done. A lot of uprisings did not have popular support, as many thought Rome offered an OK deal, or at least a better deal than they were getting.

Rather than a one-sided narrative, this series would have been a lot better with some historical objectivity in the mix.

Television docudrama that airs on History Channel, shot in UK and Bulgaria. It deals with the true story of Rome through the eyes of its main contenders who fought strongly to see its destruction. Narrated by Michael Healy , and by experts, scholars , and other hosts. Being well directed by Simon George, Sweeney and O'Dwyer . The series is told from the perspectives of those brave leaders of people that fought Rome who were termed as Barbarians by the Romans. Rome. The greatest empire the world has ever known. This docudrama tells the story of Rome through the eyes of the empire's many adversaries who battled to see its destruction. As the Roman Empire expands , it encounters local populations that it considers 'barbarians'. That's why Hannibal, Viriathus, Armenius, Spartacus and more strike back against Rome, some from without and some from within. They battled cruelly and savagely and many myths, legends and heroes were born, this is as follows :

¨Barbarians Rising¨ deals with their struggles, their motivations, and the outcomes as these indigenous people's fight for justice , vengeance and survival. The notorious Carthaginian general Amilcar Barca had 3 sons , Asdrubal, Mago and Hannibal , all of them strike back against Rome . They fight back, effectively and savagely, dealing Rome one blow after another . During the second Punic war in 218 Bc Hannibal (Nicholas Pinnock) , attacks the Roman Republic by crossing the Pyrinees and the Alps with his vast army , he vanquished Fabio Maximus and , finally , defeated them in Trevia, lake Trasimeno, and Cannas , but being vanquished in Zama by Públio Cornelius Scipion. Then Hannibal committed suicide.

As the slave Spartacus (Ben Battle) , in 73 bc leads a violent Revolt against the decadent Roman Republic , after weeks of being trained as a gladiator for the arena he turns on his owners. He was a Thracian slave at a gladiators school, as the uprising soon spreads along Italy involving thousands of rebels to lead their final destination : Sicily . He and his thousands of freed slaves successfully make their way only to find their allied have abandoned them. Finally, they must face the might of Rome represented by the powerful Marcus Licinius Crasus (Valentine Pelka) .

There was a leader of Lusitania , the shepherd Viriathus who unleashes a wave of resistance to save his people from destruction . And Boudica (Kirsty Michell) , the warrior Queen on Britain leads her tribe Icenos into rebellion against Rome , previously invaded by emperor Claudio and subsequently the mad emperor Nero. After her husband's death is left to Boudica to unite the fractious tribes of Celtics as Siluros and other Britons. The fiercy Iceni warrior , wife of a deceased King and proud mother of 2 daughters stand against the opressive and conquering empire. In raging torments and blood curling battles, the Barbarians and Roman legions , led by Paulinus who killed the Briton druids , fight a war of attrition, so ruthless and ominous that Boudica becomes a legend throughout the empire , the greatest the world has ever known.

In the first half of the first century , the Queruscos and other Teutonic tribes led by Arminius the terrible (Tom Hooper) carry out an upheaval against the brutal Rome and other adversaries . Augustus (Steven Berkoff) orders governor Varo to take command , but he is really vanquished in the massacre of Forest Teoteburgo.

Meanwhile, the Roman frontier , called Limes , to Barbarians countries was being protected by the Roman/Goth general Stilichon but he is unfortunately beheaded by the untrusted emperor . Long time after, the brave leader Goth Fritigerno (Steven Washington) defeats emperor Byzantine Valente in battle of Adrianapolis, 378, in the Roman province of Thracia . It ended with an overwhelming Victory for the Goths and death of the Eastern emperor Flavio Julio Valente who was locked and burnt. Later on , it takes place the Rome sacking , 410 , by Alarico: Gavin Drea. And Genserico (Richard Brake) , king of Vandalos , proceeds Cartagho pillaging . His most famous exploit was the capture and plundering of Rome in June 455. Subsequently , Atilla (Hostina) , crossed the Danube twice and plundered the Balkans but was unable to take Constantinople commanded by Emperor Teodosius II . Attila was defeated by visigoth Teodorico who died in battle and by General Aecio in Catalunian Fields. However, Aecio was killed by the nasty emperor Valentíniano III , son of Constantius and Galla Placidia, who previously married King Visigoth Ataulpho. And her daughter Honoria attempted to marry Attila to avoid the Rome invasion.

A documentary series on the rebel leaders who stood up to the Roman Empire, with varying degrees of success. Through narration, expert opinion and dramatized scenes we see the histories of Hannibal, Viriathus, Spartacus, Boudica, Arminius, Fritigern, Alaric, Geiseric and Attila the Hun and their struggles for independence from Rome.

An interesting period of history, with colourful subjects, well told. Well dramatized too - not just basic battle scenes as many military history series seem to consist of, but decent dialogue and human drama, in addition to some great action scenes. Many well known actors and actresses too.

On the downside, the dramatization sometimes takes precedence over historical accuracy. Also, the experts that are wheeled out feel very staged, speech-filled, preachy and superfluous. For example, why on earth do you need Jesse Jackson for a series about the Roman Empire? The experts are largely just padding.

The "drama" part of this docudrama is surprisingly excellent. The dialogue, acting, costumes, and special effects blew me away. However, I can't for the life of me figure out why they decided to have CEOs, random politicians, and Civil Rights activists interrupt great scenes with useless comments. The professors and archeologists sometimes have insightful comments, but everyone else is laughable. Would be interested to see an edit of this series where all of that stuff is removed, because it really could stand on its own.

Firstly this is not, let me repeat this not, in my estimation, an accurate historical documentary. There's license taken with some of the historical facts in order, I suspect to fit the flow of the story line(s) crafted for this short series.

Casting that not inconsiderable fact aside, what this series does do and does well, is bring a general facsimile of ancient Western history alive. This is a positive in so much as it that may encourage the interest of those who have no academic background in the subject.

What assists Barbarians Rising immensely, is a quality, mostly British cast. There are some well known faces here who breathe life, in a convincingly down to earth way, into key historical players from the period.

As a note I'd add some have criticized this series because of its title. Its true many of the civilizations the Roman's labelled "Barbarian" were sophisticated. Some more so than Rome itself. What this refers to is the Roman "attitude" towards other civilizations. This is clearly defined at the beginning of each episode and indeed, does accurately reflect Romes general attitudes, to anyone not Roman or classically Greek.

All in all, as is often the case where historical truth meets the commercial imperative to entertain, some license has been taken but there is still enough on offer here, to say this series does have some general educational value too. 7/10 from me.